


The Heart of Beacon Heights

by Forever_Without_Him



Category: PLL - Fandom, Pretty Little Liars, The Perfectionists (TV 2019), emison
Genre: Drama, Emison - Freeform, F/F, Lies, Marriage, Mona/Alison friendship, Monison, Mystery, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, Secrets, The Perfectionists - Freeform, relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2020-01-10 20:13:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 86,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18415037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forever_Without_Him/pseuds/Forever_Without_Him
Summary: How far is too far? In love, where do you draw the line? Distance? Murders? Lies? Alison and Emily have done it all before. The question is, with one half of Alison's heart in Rosewood, Pennsylvania and the other half constantly beating out of her chest in Beacon Heights, Oregon...how far is she willing to go to protect those she loves?





	1. The Perfect Storm

* * *

**A/N:** _S’up PLL, fam? I know what you’re thinking, “God, THIS chick with ANOTHER Emison fic?” You’re probably sick of me by now. You can thank my friends for continuously whispering sweet Emison nothings in my ears and begging for more content._

_Actually, the truth is, initially I wasn’t going to post this fic. I started this short story before “The Perfectionists” aired with the idea that I’d work with my own version of Emison’s story and fill in the major plot points as the show went on. But as much as I tried (and as much as I really want to) I am having a lot of trouble getting into the show (I really REALLY want to support Sasha and Janel, and I’m a huge fan of Sofia and Sydney, and Eli seems like an awesome dude, but it’s not clicking for me like I want it to, so I’ve only seen the Pilot and a few minutes of episode 2). That leaves it virtually wide open in terms of what’s going on in Beacon Heights. When I wrote this I had my own idea from the previews and promos of how I thought shit was going to go down. It was all pure speculation when I was writing this._

_I was also hesitant to post because I figured that many other writers were going to be tackling this and the last thing I wanted to do was write something that’s already being told in an original way or step on anyone’s toes. But I have had A LOT of people requesting my take on Emison in PLL: TP and since I already have a semi-complete story I thought I’d share. It’s not all rainbows and unicorns, but I ultimately believe in Happily Ever After...most days, at least._

_It’s raw and unedited. I also have “In Her Eyes” going and am working on the editing process for my AU Dark Emison story as well. So updates on this fic are going to be sporadic. And more than likely slow and short. It may end up just being a few one-shots. I haven’t decided yet. But I do have an end written. Rating may change later._

* * *

  **Prologue: **

_“I feel like I’m losing you, Ali.”_

_“I have to do this, Emily.”_

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

**The Perfect Storm**

The sweat on her palm was making it difficult for her to hold the phone. Even harder was looking back at her wife’s face on the screen. The brunette had a sullen look on her face, eyes tired and worn from a long day of trying to comfort their daughters, who missed their mother.

Alison hadn’t been as communicative the past few days, and Emily was starting to worry that something was wrong. Of course something was wrong. Alison had picked up to move all the way across the country. And they had two small children who didn’t understand why now they could only see mommy through fractured images on a screen instead of having her there to read bedtime stories in their room with their other mom.

Alison had been talking about wanting to get her Master’s Degree for a while, so when she got a job alert for an opening at a prestigious college in a small town on the west coast she was intrigued. It seemed to be everything she’d been wanting and more. The strange thing was…she hadn’t signed up for job alerts in that particular area.

Still, it seemed like a great opportunity. She read up on Beacon Heights University and went through the benefits package. It offered a lot more than she’d seen at other universities. It also offered her a chance to be somewhere where no one knew her as the girl who came back from the dead. The girl who was nearly killed by her own sister. The girl who was tortured by her own husband. A girl who skirted murder charges more than once. It offered her a fresh start. New faces. A new her.

But it also meant she’d have to make the choice to uproot her family or leave them behind. Both options made her feel horrible. The twins were just starting preschool. They were happy and stable. And they had family in Rosewood. Emily’s mom spent every weekend with them. They had dinners with Alison’s brother every Sunday.

They had friends in Rosewood. They had a life. The idea of taking them somewhere foreign at one of the most important developmental stages of their lives left a bad taste in her mouth. Leaving them was an even more difficult choice. Because she didn’t really know who she was without her family. And she knew the girls would miss her.

She had talked it over with Emily. There had been some resistance at first. Emily had always had a deep-rooted fear that Alison would leave her. They’d spent their teenage years on a tumultuous merry-go-round of love, suspicion, and betrayal. They eventually grew past that, but there would always be the residual knee-jerk reactions based on fears.

But the love they had for one another surpassed all of that. It was a biological inherent need, a pull like nothing else in the world. They had problems, but no relationship was perfect. The perfect life with the family and the white picket fence was no more real than the American Dream. Couples waded through crap all the time, but the people who were truly right for one another pushed back. They didn’t let their struggles take them down. And Alison and Emily had vowed for better or worse.

Distance was hard. And they were already on rocky footing. But despite that, Emily could see how much Alison wanted it. She knew Alison was ready for a new stage in her life, and she wanted to help her see it through. Because in the end they always found their way back to one another. Plus, technology made it easier to stay in touch.

But neither one of them knew that the technology at Beacon Heights was going to be dangerous. Deadly. And it was going to test them in ways they’d never been tested before.

Alison had only been gone for two weeks, but something in her had drastically changed. Emily could hear it in her voice when they talked. And she could see the stress on her face during their family video chats.

Lately, Alison hadn’t been picking up her calls and when they texted the conversations just consisted of short curt replies. She seemed irritable and snippy, and Emily had no idea why.

So she’d finally confronted her about it while they’d been Facetiming that night. Alison had read the girls one of their favorite bedtime stories. She’d watched with an amused smile as Grace fought her sleep. She couldn’t help but feel a warmth in her heart when she saw Lily watching her eagerly, smiling at her the whole time.

Once the girls had settled Emily had taken the call into more private quarters. Alison knew the conversation was coming, so she tried to make some lame excuse about how she needed to go because she was drowning in paperwork. But Emily wasn’t going to let her off that easily.

“Not this time, Ali,” Emily cut her off before Alison could tell her she had to go.

She’d just found out that Alison wasn’t flying home for the weekend. And she’d had to break it to the girls today. Grace had cried. Lily had thrown a tantrum that ended with a new crack in the wall from the end of a toilet plunger. And Emily was just exhausted.

“Em, I’ve got papers to grade and I…”

“We have to talk about this.” Emily’s face was stern.

“It’s just growing pains. We’ll find our footing.” Alison assured her.

“I don’t know how that’s possible if we don’t _communicate_.” Emily frowned.

Communication was the whole problem. Alison didn’t _want_ to communicate with Emily about Beacon Heights. She didn’t want anyone there knowing they were communicating at all. Not with everything that was going on.

“Look, I knew this was going to be hard, but I didn’t expect you to shut me out completely.” Emily sighed.

Emily rubbed her forehead with her index finger. She did that a lot when she was stressed. Alison could tell she was fighting a headache.

“I’m not…”

“Don’t.” Emily’s voice broke. “Don’t lie to me. I know when you’re lying to me. Cut the bullshit. What’s really going on?”

“Things are just…” Alison glanced at the ceiling, fighting back tears. Keeping her in the dark was killing her, “…more complicated than I was expecting.”

“Okay, so talk to me.” Emily said, her tone split between compassion and irritation.

Alison thought about everything that had happened since she’d stepped foot out of the cab and into her university housing. Mona’s presence. Nolan’s murder. The freaky-ass “coincidence” that Nolan’s dead sister looked _exactly_ like her. Campus security acting like a second-rate NSA affiliate. The children she’d sworn to protect. The odd happenstances that kept happening. The weird messages on the walls. The 24-hour Big Brother security that was constantly watching her.

How could she tell her that the reason she’d been avoiding her was because she was trying to protect her? From the investigation. From prying eyes. From the person who had murdered Nolan. From whoever the hell was on the other end of the cameras watching her every move. For all she knew they hacked into phone calls and spied on their video chats. It made her uncomfortable. She wanted Emily and her daughters as far away from it all as possible. And that meant less communication. Because less communication meant less that could be used against her if this situation got any more heated.

“Alison?” Emily asked impatiently.

Alison opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a sigh. She lowered her head, a strange sense of defeat washing over her. She knew what she had to do.

“What do you want me to say?” She shrugged indifferently, staring directly into the camera on her phone.

If anyone was watching she needed to make it believable. She needed to make it seem like the distance was going to destroy them. She didn’t need anyone using her love for her family against her. She’d come here to do a job. And she intended to do it without pulling Emily and her children into it.

The problem was, Emily was going to buy into it, too. When Alison shut down, Emily got frustrated, and rightfully so. It had taken them years to build up their trust. Years of damages that had to be repaired. And every time Alison pulled away Emily understandably panicked a little bit.

Alison hadn’t told her anything that had happened since she’d arrived in town. Once she found out she was being watched she’d fallen back into old habits - protecting her loved ones at all costs. Even if that meant they ended up hating her. Though she knew that Emily could never hate her. Not after everything they’d been through together. She was a little worried about Grace and Lily though. Her parents had been distant when she was growing up. She didn’t want her little girls to hate her for not being there.

She was already thinking of ways she could reach out to her family without Beacon Guard knowing. It had to be old school. Technology was out. If she could just get a letter to Emily…try to explain…

But that wouldn’t work. Because that would still mean her family was at risk. And for all she knew the security on campus read the mail, too. She had planned for a lot of things moving out to Beacon Heights, but she had not planned for this. So she was going to have to do what she did best: adapt. She’d learned how to survive back in high school when she was on the run. It would be like riding a bike.

“I’m starting to think this was a huge mistake.” Emily shook her head, clearly frustrated. “I feel like we’re going backwards here.”

“This isn’t about us.” Alison said, keeping her tone even. “It’s about me. I came here for a reason.”

“You were the one who said we could make this work.” Emily bit the inside of her cheek, tears flooding her eyes. “You left and…”

“You _let_ me leave.” Alison bit back, though it was more out of habit than out of spite. “You _told_ me it was okay. You promised to support me.”

“I know.” Emily didn’t argue. She didn’t want to fight. She just missed her. “And I know this isn’t forever. I just wasn’t expecting you to take so much of _us_ with you when you left.”

Alison had walked out of Rosewood with a piece of Emily’s heart. And she was tired of the distance. Not just the physical distance. Alison had been at an arm’s length for a while, and Emily felt like she was slipping away.

“I feel like I’m losing you, Ali.”

Alison glanced up at the camera watching this conversation. She hated it. She wanted to take a baseball bat to it. She tilted her head back and bit her lip as she closed her eyes and took a breath. She could feel tears stinging her eyes. She forced herself to look at Emily’s image on the screen again. Because what she was doing was important. These kids needed her. But she couldn’t tell Emily about it. She gathered her emotions and looked directly into Emily’s kind brown eyes.

“I have to do this, Emily.”

Emily nodded wordlessly, her lips tight, her tension palpable. Alison clenched her right hand into a tightly bound fist. She hated that she couldn’t be there to touch her face, to tell her how much she loved her.

“But you’re not losing me,” she said. “I swear.”

She missed the way she felt…the way she smelled. She’d been in town just long enough that even the things she brought from home were starting to smell more like Beacon Heights and less like Rosewood. She had one of Emily’s old t-shirts that Grace had thrown into her luggage so she “wouldn’t miss Mama as much”. That little girl had been on to something. Alison had secretly slept with the ratty old shirt every night. It was dated and had holes, but it smelled like home.

“Why haven’t you been picking up my calls then? You said you weren’t going to push me away. You said you weren’t going to run.” Emily sounded more hurt than accusatory.

Alison knew she was right. She hadn’t been present lately. She’d been caught between her new life and her old one.

“I’m not running from _you_ ,” Alison said with a soft expression on her face.

“But you’re running from something.” Emily called her out.

“God, would you just trust me, please?” Alison uttered in frustration. “I’ve earned at least that much, don’t you think?”

“You want to talk about trust?” Emily scoffed. “You’re keeping secrets from me.” Her eyes darkened. “ _Again_.”

“It’s not like that. There’s more to it…”

“That’s the point. There’s _more_ that you’re not telling me.” She reached up to wipe her eyes. “I know about the murder, Alison.”

Alison felt her blood run cold. Of course it would be all over the news. The town had never had a homicide before. And Emily was savvy when it came to keeping up with the times. The only thing that Alison had on her side was the fact that the investigators were keeping a lot of details about it underwraps since the investigation was still ongoing.

“Why didn’t you call me?” Emily asked.

“I don’t know. Because it wasn’t a big deal…”

“A kid _died_.”

“And it has nothing to do with me.” Alison spit the lie out faster than she could talk.

“Are you really safe there?” Emily asked.

Alison tried not to flinch. Because if Emily saw even the slightest bit of hesitation on her face she would be standing on her front porch tomorrow morning.

“People die every day, Emily. It’s sad. But life goes on.” Her voice came out incredibly confident, despite her not feeling confident at all.

“You really expect me to believe that you’re _not_ going to get involved?”

“From what I understand he had a lot of enemies…” Alison glanced at the security system, recording every word she was saying. She felt beads of sweat dripping down the back of her neck. She had to be very careful about what she said next. “He probably just pissed off the wrong frat boy. The police are handling it. I just want to do what I came here to do. I want to learn. I want to teach. I just want to get through this for you and the girls.”

Emily nodded, though she didn’t look like she believed her.

“We swore this time we would have honesty. You said you were done pushing me away. _You_ asked me to marry _you_.”

“You’re the one who said _yes_.” It came out a lot more snarky than she’d intended for it to. She immediately backed off. “I’m sorry. That’s…that came out wrong. I’m just…it’s been a long day.” It had been a long week.

Emily didn’t react. Instead she just sighed.

“I made a promise to you,” Emily said, peering slightly off-screen.

Alison could still see their room in picture perfect clarity in her mind, so she knew exactly what Emily was looking at. The table next to their bed with a glass statue of the Eiffel tower and a picture of the day the girls had been born.

“Whatever it is that you’re doing there,” she said, continuing, her eyes slowly drifting back to the screen, “whatever it is that you’re looking for, I hope you find it.”

“What does _that_ mean?” Alison was taken aback.

“I love you, Alison. I don’t want to fight. I don’t have it in me. Not anymore. After everything we went through, and then after what happened last year with my mom…I’m tired. I’m done with the drama. I promised forever. And I meant that. But I need something from you. I need you to promise me that you won’t shut me out. I need to know what’s going on with you. We can only make this work if we’re _both_ in this. I don’t want to lose you again.”

“You won’t.”

“I didn’t hear a promise anywhere in that.”

“Jesus, Emily. Fine. I promise.” Though she had every intention of breaking that promise, because it meant that her family stayed safe.

Alison heard a light knock at the door. She glanced at the clock. It was too late to be one of her students. It was either Detective Booker or Mona. And either way, she didn’t want Emily to know anything about the visit. And she sure as hell didn’t want Dana Booker to know about her family back in Rosewood, though a quick search would have probably given her all the information she’d ever want. That’s why it was so important for Alison to distance herself.

“I’ve got to go.” Alison sighed.

The knob turned and the door started to creak open. Alison felt an internal panic. All the times she’d been attacked back in Rosewood came flashing back to her. She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon. Her instincts were telling her to run to Emily. But Emily wasn’t there. And she didn’t _want_ her there. Not in danger. Not again.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her visitor. When she saw Mona waving at her she held up a finger indicating that she was busy, off-screen, so Emily couldn’t see it. Mona seemed to gauge the seriousness of the conversation. She shut the door behind her and walked into the kitchen. Alison was thankful for her uncharacteristic brevity. They’d found a weird common ground since she’d arrived in town.

“Kiss the girls goodnight for me.” Alison glanced at the photo of her twins she’d just put up a few days ago.

Emily looked like she wanted to say something, but she relented.

“We’ll call you in the morning.” Emily nodded.

There was a beat of silence, then Alison glanced at the picture of her holding her babies.

“Do they hate me?”

“What?” Emily was caught off-guard. “No. Of course not. Did you see the way their faces lit up when they saw you? They just miss you.”

“What about you?” Alison questioned, afraid of the answer.

“Of course I miss you.”

“No. Do _you_ hate me?”

“You have to stop asking me that every time we have a disagreement.” Emily shook her head. “I don’t always agree with your actions, but I signed up for this. I’m here for you, Ali. Whether you want me to be or not.”

She yawned. Alison glanced at the clock. It was almost midnight back in Rosewood.

“Get some rest, Em.” Alison smiled sweetly. “I love you.”

There was a beat, a terrifying moment where Alison wondered if this would be the first time that Emily wouldn’t say it back to her. But then Emily glanced at the screen.

“I love you, too.” There was the faintest hint of a smile on Emily’s face. “We’re proud of you, Alison. Just remember that, okay?”

Alison nodded, tears in her eyes. They said their goodbyes and then Alison put the phone down on the mantle, next to the pictures she’d put up of her family. There were several photos of the girls at various ages. She glanced at one from last year. It had been taken on Easter. Emily had taken the picture after they’d changed out of their fancy clothes to get dirty looking for Easter eggs. They were sitting on the front porch in Alison’s lap. Alison remembered the exact face Emily had made to get the girls to smile.

She stopped and stared at one of their candid family portraits. Lily and Grace hadn’t been more than seven months old. They were in the kitchen. Alison had Lily in her arms and Emily had Grace. Alison remembered that morning. It was the day she’d met up with Pam to ask for her permission to marry Emily. Pam had insisted Alison take her mother’s engagement ring for the proposal. Alison picked up the picture, looking at her perfect happy family. Things were a lot simpler back then. She was starting to realize that “perfect” didn’t really exist.

“Ali?” She heard Mona’s voice.

She’d been so wrapped up in her emotions she’d almost forgotten she’d slipped in. She turned around, picture still in hand. She clutched it for a moment. It made her feel closer to home. Then she cleared her throat and put the frame back up on the mantle. She started to walk towards Mona, but stopped when she reached the small box that fed power to the security camera. She started at the little green light. She opened the panel. Mona’s face brightened in alarm. Her voice came out a quiet hiss.

“Alison, you can’t just…”

“Watch me.” Alison pulled the panel down and disconnected the main fuse. She watched as the little indicator light started blinking red.

“Why did you do that? I highly doubt they’re watching your sexploits with your wife.” Mona glanced at her.

“You said yourself they’re watching everything. I’m not taking that chance.” Alison shook her head.

“How is the missus?” Mona walked over to her. She didn’t miss the melancholy look on the blonde’s face.

Alison had been mopey about Emily since the first night she’d gotten to Beacon Heights. She’d admitted to Mona that they were having trouble trying to find their footing as a family. Mona had been surprised to hear it. She’d known about Emily’s love for Alison practically since they were toddlers.

She’d seen the blossoming flower of adoration blooming in Emily long before Alison had turned into a hateful duplicitous bitch. Mona had been in the same Brownie troop as Alison and Emily. Emily had always been shy, but she lit up around Alison. One time the troop had gone on a camping trip together. Mona remembered sitting around the campfire as all the girls were making s’mores and telling stories. Emily’s eyes had been trained on Alison the entire night.

“She’s upset because she thinks I’m lying.” Alison sighed.

They had been together for so long that Emily could see through Alison’s bullshit, even if they were thousands of miles apart.

“Aren’t you?” Mona questioned with intrigue.

There wasn’t any malevolence in her tone. She was simply stating a fact. She knew that there was no way in hell Alison had told Emily what was going on. Because if she had Emily would have been on the next flight out, kids or no kids.

“If I tell her the truth she’ll drop everything and run in to try and save me.” Alison stared at the photo. There was a longing in her eyes that broke Mona’s heart. “I don’t want her involved in this. She spent years in Rosewood in danger because of me. I won’t do that to her again.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Mona questioned curiously. She walked over to observe Alison’s pictures. “Emily is not stupid. In fact, she’s got more wiles than most people I know. I picked up on that really quickly when I was…” She glanced at Alison, suddenly regretting bringing it up, “… _studying_ the girls in high school…”

Alison rolled her eyes at the word “studying”, but she didn’t say anything. One thing that the two of them had agreed upon was that they wouldn’t bring up past discretions. Mostly because it impeded their investigation. They couldn’t work together if they were too busy sniping at one another. Besides, they were both completely different women than they’d been back in high school.

“She’s already suspicious. She knows about Nolan’s murder.” Alison admitted.

“What? It’s news back there?” The short brunette looked both irritated and confused. Of course it was news.

“We’re in a different state, Mona. Not a different planet,” she replied caustically. “Besides, knowing my wife, she probably signed up for every piece of journalistic material she could find on Oregon.” She played with her wedding ring. “I told her it was safe out here. That the only thing I’d need to worry about was foggy nights, road-hogging cyclists, and ticks.”

She could only imagine how she’d blown her top when she’d read about Nolan’s murder.

“I hate lying to her.” Her eyes were glistening with tears. “I don’t know how long I can keep this up.”

“Just stick with me and keep your head down. I’ll make sure your name doesn’t come up in any of the news coverage.”

“No. Not that.” She glanced at her wedding ring. She slid it off of her finger.

Mona cocked her head, watching in curiosity. Alison rolled the piece of jewelry between her index finger and her thumb.

“I don’t know how much more I can put her through before I destroy her.” She rubbed the ring. “I have to keep her away from this.” _By any means necessary_. “She’s pissed at me. I know she is. But I’d rather have her angry at me and alive than dead. Keeping her safe is the most important thing to me right now. Her life trumps what I want. I just hope that once the dust settles, she’ll understand.”

Mona gave her a sympathetic look. It had never been in her nature to coddle people, especially Alison DiLaurentis, but she couldn’t help herself as she reached out and put her palm against Alison’s wrist. She gently brushed her thumb against her arm.

“Hey, you two have been through a lot.” Mona gently held her hand. The motion surprised Alison. She glanced at Mona’s hand. “I know I had my fair share of involvement in some of what you guys went through…”

“ _Some_?” Alison raised her brow incredulously.

Mona cut her eyes at her. She was _trying_ to be nice.

“The point is you didn’t let it weigh you down. You didn’t let it break you then.” Mona smiled timidly at her. “I mean, I’m certainly not an expert on love, but I do know one thing. Everyone faces hardships. Relationships don’t work like Charles Dickens and Jane Austen would have you believe. It’s not like you get married and then you’re suddenly happy forever. It takes work. Couples like you and Emily…the people who are _truly_ right for one another, they fight for one another. One of you will _always_ step up for your relationship. And that’s what makes you two work.”

Alison nodded, starving off her tears. She had needed to hear that more than Mona knew. Because she was starting to doubt herself. Sometimes she still felt inadequate when it came to Emily. She felt like she wasn’t good enough for her, despite Emily telling her _numerous_ times that wasn’t true. Being away from her was hard. She missed her. She missed her daughters. She missed her _family_.

“Thank you, Mona.” Alison gently pulled her hand back. She ran her fingertips over the frame that held the thing that was most dear to her heart: her family.

“Any time.” Mona shrugged with a smile. “Come on. I brought dinner.”

“You…what?” Alison had a skeptical look on her face.

“You may have decided to go dark…” Mona pointed to the furious flashing red light on the security system. It wouldn’t be long before someone started raising hell about that. “…but the rest of the campus is still online. I didn’t want to look suspicious.”

“We are the _definition_ of suspicious.” Alison laughed darkly.

“All the more reason to plug your nanny cam back in. The last thing we need is security on our asses about a blackout while we’re in the middle of investigating a murder. Fix it.” She pointed to the fuse box.

“Fine.” Alison huffed dramatically.

“I brought dessert.” Mona started walking away.

“Let me guess. Pie?” Alison questioned.

“No. Equally as delicious though.” Mona spun around, a glint in her eyes. “Files that might give us a trail to follow on Nolan’s murder.”

“So then why am I plugging Big Brother Beacon back in then?”

“Because I happen to know how to remotely hack the system and fake a time stamp to make it look like we’re just two girls sharing some local take out.”

“Of course you do,” Alison muttered to herself.

Same old Mona.

She walked over to the box that had been a thorn in her side since she’d arrived in town. She opened the panel and pushed the fuse back into place and then made sure the box was closed and didn’t look like it had been tampered with.

She walked by the shelves where she had her books and photos, stopping momentarily to look at a photo of her and Emily on their wedding day.

Emily had gone with a casual sleek dress. She’d insisted that it not be too flashy, because she didn’t want to pull focus away from Alison. She’d wanted all of the attention to be on her. They’d picked out a long flowing dress with a beautiful veiled train for her. Vera Wang.

The twins had worn matching pink and white dresses. Grace had spilled pudding on her dress twenty minutes before the ceremony. Lily had dumped all the rose petals out of her basket and had spent most of her time before the wedding making shapes and works of art out of her flowers.

The ceremony had been short and sweet. Alison had never been more nervous in her life. But Emily was calm. She was everything she’d needed her to be and more. Alison had cried tears of joy when she went through her vows, explaining how Emily had been the only thing in her entire life she was certain about. She had been shaking when she’d told her that she’d been afraid of letting her guard down to be loved, because she was afraid that if she did, and she lost her for any reason…she wouldn’t survive.

_“I assumed it was easier to fantasize about what might have been instead of risking everything and losing it all.”_

But Emily had been persistent in their love. Because that’s who she was. Determined. Fierce. Loyal. She had never given up. Even when Alison ran, Emily found her.

_“I spent my entire life looking for something I had in you the entire time. Because you loved me despite my flaws. You believed in us. You made me believe in us. You’re my forever.”_

Forever. They’d promised forever that day.

Emily had been in love with her since the moment they met. Alison had been too blind to see it, and later when she did see it she had been too afraid to accept it. But when she stood in front of the woman she wanted to spend the rest of her life with on her wedding day those fears were long gone. The lifetime of searching was over.

She’d listened as Emily had gushed about how they were stronger because of everything they’d been through. They had wavered through life and death, and she was sure that they could face anything they encountered head on. Emily had held her hands tightly, her mascara running as she declared her love for Alison that day.

_“No matter how many times we were torn apart, we always found a way back to one another. I have struggled a lot with beliefs in my life, but the one thing I’ve been sure of is us. The foundation that we built our love on might not have been the most traditional one, but because we built it together I know it’s going to last.”_

Emily had opened up her heart and her soul to this woman. She had trusted Alison enough to let her in.

_“I see you in a way that you’ve never been able to see yourself. I know you in ways that I feel in my heart. When I wake up in the morning you are my very first thought. And when we go to bed at night you’re the only thing I dream about. You’re not just my love. You are my home, Alison. You are my forever.”_

Forever was a long time. Both of them had meant it when they said it the day they were betrothed. But forever didn’t just mean happily ever after. Mona was right. Marriage was work.

Forever meant the good times _and_ the bad. It meant the laughter and the love _and_ the tears and the pain. It meant trudging through the hard times, too. The difficulties. The fights. The hardships. _Forever_ meant the messy times, too.

Alison put her ring down on the mantle and delicately rubbed her thumb across the glass in the frame. She glanced at the security system out of the corner of her eye. She silently warned anyone who was watching that her family was off-limits. She would unleash holy hell if something happened to them.

And as difficult as it was to have Emily questioning where they stood in their relationship, as hard as it was to feel the pain of the distance, Alison was ready to take this step to protect her family. Whoever had killed Nolan Hotchkiss would be out for blood when they realized she was working on exposing them. And she would do whatever she had to do in order to keep her wife and daughters out of it.

Unfortunately, things weren’t always that simple. It didn’t matter how much she pushed her wife away. Because no matter how far away they were from one another, Emily would always find a way to protect her. Regardless of the consequences. The threat of death had never stopped her before. And once she found out the truth it wouldn’t keep her from jumping into the line of fire.


	2. Beacon Heights Blues

**A/N:** _I was iffy writing in this world. I want to be straight up about the ups and downs in this fic, so just know that this one is a little rougher than the first chapter. The timing when I was writing this chapter was back when Marlene was saying that Emily and Alison loved one another, but that they were struggling. I want my intentions to be crystal clear here. Emison is absolutely endgame in this version of “The Perfectionists”. There is no divorce. There is no separation. There are struggles. There is conflict. There is mystery. And there is drama._

_I want readers to keep in mind that I wrote this fic before “The Perfectionists” aired. I had my own theories and ideas from the trailers/sneak peeks that I blended into Alison and Emily’s world. This means that a majority of the plot may or may not match up to what is happening in real time on screen and the personalities of the new characters may or may not be the same to their screen counterparts. While it’s an Emison-based fic, it is still in The Perfectionists’ world, which means that we will see Ava, Caitlin, Dylan, Mona, and more. And it will be centered around what’s happening in Beacon Heights._

* * *

**Chapter 2:**

**Beacon Heights Blues**

Alison tapped her pen against the podium, lost in thought. The discussion was at a stalemate. Her kids had been giving her shit since her first day, when Nolan had laid her past out in front of them. It had been a power move. She’d seen it hundreds of times before. And she did not appreciate it.

Her initial reaction was to size him up and take him down with a dose of his own medicine, to peg him as the affluent little snob that he was. She wanted to ask him if he was overcompensating for the lack of something he was missing in life.

Instead, she’d simply let it roll off of her shoulders. She had come to this town for a fresh start, to work on herself. The old Alison would have eviscerated him verbally, but the new _adult_ Alison had quietly pulled him aside after class and warned him not to make an enemy out of her. It turned out to be the best decision of her life. Because had she snapped at him in front of the whole class that day the investigation would be honed in on her as the top suspect.

But in the eyes of the rest of the class, Nolan had _owned_ the new teacher. All of the students had been slacking off and not taking her seriously.

All except three. The three very people who had been close to Nolan. She’d suspected something amiss the second she’d seen them together. After the boy had been killed she’d noticed them acting strangely. So she’d reached out. They were, understandably, wary of her. But she was slowly getting to know them. Part of it was a residual need to protect them, even though she didn’t know them. They reminded her too much of her family back in Rosewood to ignore. Of course, her ulterior motive was because she and Mona needed to find out who was responsible for Nolan’s death. Because whoever it was was a danger to her, and to her family.

The murder had derailed everything. And she felt guilty for thinking that, but it was true. It’s like she was cursed and couldn’t have a normal life no matter what she did. She’d moved away from Rosewood _specifically_ to get a fresh start, to leave everything that was haunting her from her past in the dust. She’d moved because she wanted to grow as a person, a wife, and a mother.

But she’d quickly discovered that things didn’t always work out like that. The insanity of Rosewood wasn’t just limited to Rosewood. Shit happened _everywhere_. Ominous things seemed to follow her around like a storm cloud ready to strike her down at the worst possible moment.

“…question about the assigned reading.” A pristine voice interrupted her train of thought.

She glanced at the classroom full of students. The question had come from a petite blonde girl sitting behind one of the students she was investigating, Caitlin Park-Lewis.

Caitlin turned around and glanced at her, as did the rest of the class. There were a few groans from some of the crowd. The girl was essentially reminding the teacher she forgot to assign homework. It was frowned upon.

More than frowned upon. It was a crime punishable by death.

Alison quickly shook that thought from her head. Given recent events, that wasn’t funny.

“You said chapters 12 through 14, right?” The blonde asked again.

More mumbles of disapproval. The girl had a devious smirk on her face. It was clear she was doing this to get a rise out of the rest of the class…to be noticed. She reminded Alison a lot of herself. She’d been a little snot in high school.

Alison glanced at her copy of the novel they were reading. She’d completely forgotten what chapter they were on. Had they already discussed 9 through 11?

“Yes. And don’t forget about the summary and self-reflection. Four pages.” Alison closed her book.

“We’re only on chapter 9.” A boy glanced at the blonde.

Dylan Walker. Another suspect on Beacon Heights’ potential murderer list. From the moment Alison had gotten into town she’d pegged him as highly intelligent, focused, and driven to the point of perfectionism. He was a smart kid. And sweet, too. But she knew enough to know that everyone had a dark side.

“Well, how was I supposed to know that?” The blonde snorted out a laugh. She’d clearly been testing Alison.

 _You snotty little shit…_ Alison thought to herself.

“I see you like a challenge,” Alison replied coolly. She kept her “teaching” voice on. “You’re certainly eager to dive further into the book. I admire that. So how about we speed things along? Instead of three chapters, let’s go with six. And let’s make the self-reflections an extra…” She mulled it over, “…two pages.”

Everyone angrily cut their eyes at the blonde, who sank down in her chair and tried to make herself invisible.

Alison smirked.

_Suck on that, dye-job Barbie._

It was more than a power move to put the girl in her place. It was a message telling the rest of the class not to screw with her. Because her threats weren’t idle.

“For _each_ chapter?” The blonde complained.

“I’m sure you can handle it.” Alison smiled. _Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuuuuuck yooooou._

“I have a self-reflection. People who have less brain cells than a rock should have their mouths duct taped shut in class.”

The retort came from Ava Jalali, the third and final suspect in Nolan’s death, at least according to Dana Booker, the thorn in everyone’s side who had been looking into the murder. The woman was relentless. The bitch genuinely got on Alison’s nerves.

Ava was smart, but very aloof. She had her mind set on what _she_ wanted and didn’t let anyone stand in the way of that. She was savvy. Not only was she intelligent in academics. She was smart in life. She had street smarts. But she also had a hot temper. And right now her sights were set on the smart-mouthed blonde. She was pissed about the extra workload. If the blonde had just kept her mouth shut they would have just had their regular assignments. The fire in her eyes was almost explosive. She had a lot of emotions brewing beneath the surface.

Alison had heard the rumors about Ava’s family. And she sympathized, because she came from a broken home herself. It’s why Alison hadn’t called her out for showing up to class drunk. She’d been pretty broken up about Nolan’s death. Alison understood that. She’d been swigging from the bottle since she got to town. It numbed the pain of being away from her wife and kids.

“Like you’re actually paying attention, Jalali?” The blonde spit back. “You’re so self-absorbed that the only thing you notice is your reflection. No wonder Nolan dumped you.”

It cut Ava deep. She teetered between her pain and her anger, her anger winning out as she nearly leaped over her desk. Dylan and another boy quickly intervened, grabbing Ava before she could rip into the girl. Ava struggled against Dylan. He whispered something in her ear to get her to calm down, but whatever he said didn’t work.

“He probably killed himself to get away from you.” The blonde added.

“Hey!” Alison tried to get command of the classroom.

“Do you _want_ me to let her go?” Dylan threatened the blonde.

“Like I’m afraid of a wanna-be YouTube celeb? Beauty fades, honey. Dumb is forever.”

“That’s enough.” Alison cut in angrily. She had to resist the urge to walk over to the blonde and stab her in the face with her pen.

Ava jerked away from Dylan and grabbed her laptop, closing it and shoving it in her backpack. Everyone else was doing the same. Alison saw them packing up their things. She glanced up at the clock, suddenly realizing the class was over. The blonde was the first one out the door. Everyone else shuffled towards the exit.

Caitlin, Ava, and Dylan lingered. They shared a meaningful look with Alison before walking towards the front of the classroom towards the door.

Alison stepped in front of a raging Ava. She reached out and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, Ava…listen, I…”

Ava ripped away from Alison’s touch and huffed as she walked past her. Dylan chased after her.

“It’s best to let her calm down when she gets like this.” Caitlin suggested.

Alison nodded as she watched them disappear. They walked right by Mona without a second glance. Mona watched them walk down the hallway. She waited a few minutes and then went into Alison’s classroom. She found her staring at her phone, tears in her eyes.

“Everything okay?” Mona questioned.

Alison was startled by her sudden appearance, though she knew she should have been used to it at this point. Mona was constantly popping up.

Alison glanced at Emily’s name on her screen. Seeing Ava fly off the handle reminded her of how much passion she had for her wife. And she knew it was stupid to compare Ava’s dead boyfriend to her wife, who was safe on the east coast, but it still felt too close to home to ignore. She’d forgotten who she was without Emily. She wanted to call her. Emily would know what to do. She would know how to help these kids. She wanted to hear her voice. Just hearing her say “hello” was a comfort to her. But that comfort was slowly slipping through her fingers.

She’d made a promise that she wouldn’t shut her out, but that’s exactly what she was doing. And it was starting to take its toll. The last text she’d sent her wife had been left unanswered. Alison wanted to believe it was because she was busy with the girls, but deep down she knew that they were drifting apart. And she hated it.

There had been nothing in their past that had ever kept them away from one another. Time or distance. Not even death. None of it mattered. Because they were destiny. But lately it hadn’t felt like that. They were both trying to make it work. They’d promised one another to be there. But Alison had been lying to her since she first arrived in Beacon Heights. She was starting to realize that keeping the world of Beacon Heights away from Emily meant becoming a ghost. But she always thought that Emily would fight harder against it. Emily had never let her go without a fight. It was unnerving that she wasn’t berating her with questions and calling her every five minutes.

“Cutting her off has been so hard.” Alison couldn’t take her eyes off of a photo of Emily on her phone. It was a candid of her laughing. Her laugh was radiant and infectious. It captured everything beautiful about her.

“Are you two still fighting?” Mona questioned.

They bickered, but they rarely fought. In fact, they’d really only had one big fight in the last year. It had been about her move to Beacon Heights. They’d both said some things they regretted. But in the end, they had talked it over. Communication was key. Marriages didn’t work solely on lust and love. The art of communicating was essential. But they hadn’t been doing a lot of talking lately.

“No.” Alison frowned at her phone. She glanced at the security system overlooking them. “Can’t fight if you’re not talking.”

Mona saw her gaze and she got the gist of what Alison was doing. The less the security team knew, the better. She nodded subtly.

“The girls still having a hard time?”

Alison glanced at Mona with a look that cut her deeply. _That_ wasn’t for the cameras. She missed her children.

The young TA wondered what they were doing at that very moment. They’d probably be doing something in their after school program while Emily was on her way to pick them up. Grace was probably painting. She loved everything messy. Lily was probably on the playground. She loved being outside. Lily was her thinker. She looked just like Emily when her little brows were furrowed in thought. Grace had her mischievous spirit and her smile.

The photos and the video chats weren’t enough for her. She hadn’t realized how difficult it was truly going to be to leave them. When they’d sat the girls down to explain the move to them they’d been confused at first. They thought Alison was leaving them forever, which in and of itself was enough to cause Alison to waver in her decision. Lily had stayed silent, pulling on her eyelashes, which was a nervous habit they’d been trying to break her of. Grace had pouted and curled her arms around her little stuffed bear that she took _everywhere_ with her.

 _“How long are you going away for mommy?”_ Grace asked, her lips trembling.

Alison had felt like breaking down. That one simple question had made her re-evaluate everything. How could she leave her wife, her babies? She was going to miss so much of their childhood.

 _“Oh…baby…we don’t know anything for sure yet.”_ She’d stuttered, not wanting to disappoint her children. _“Mommy is just thinking about it…”_

Out of the corner of her eye she’d caught Emily glaring at her. They’d discussed telling the twins when Alison was ready. And clearly, she wasn’t. Emily had restrained herself in front of her children, but after they’d put them to bed they’d had words about it.

_“You’re ‘thinking about it’? Really, Ali? That’s just going to confuse them.”_

_“What was I supposed to tell them?”_

_“The truth! We can’t keep stringing them along like this.”_ Emily frowned. _“I thought you’d already made your decision. It’s the only reason I thought we should tell them.”_

_“Em, I’m sorry. I…I wasn’t thinking.”_

_“Don’t apologize to me. I’m not the one who is in the dark about you going across the country.”_

_“Don’t be like that.”_

_“Like what?”_ Emily asked. _“I asked you if you were ready to tell them. I ASKED you, Ali. And you said yes.”_

_“I panicked. Did you see their faces? They were so upset!”_

_“Well, what did you expect? A going away party?”_

_“Cut me a break. This isn’t easy. It’s not like they make a handbook for this type of thing.”_

_“Sorry.”_ Emily realized she was out of line. She had plopped down on the edge of the bed and rubbed her head vigorously. _“You said this is what you wanted.”_

 _“It was.”_ She’d quickly corrected herself. _“It IS.”_

_“Look, I get that this is hard for you. I do. But lying to the kids…pretending that everything is fine when it’s not, it’s not right. Giving them false hope is not fair to them. They’re not stupid. They know something is going on. Feeding them fairytales isn’t doing anyone any favors.”_

_“I didn’t tell them anything that wasn’t true.”_

_“You alluded to the fact that you might not go. Instead of being straightforward about it you gave them unrealistic expectations. They’re not going to understand why you suddenly changed your mind. Now it’s going to be twice as hard when you do leave.”_

Alison had lifted a brow in suspicion.

_“Are we talking about the girls or you here?”_

_“Don’t do that.”_ Emily shook her head angrily. _“Don’t patronize me. I’m not four. I know the reality of the situation. You chose this…”_

 _“WE!”_ Alison corrected her. _“WE chose this. You were with me every step of the way. You said it was a great opportunity.”_

_“And I still believe that. I do. I want you to follow your heart.”_

_“So do I!”_

_“So then why are we fighting?”_ Emily growled angrily.

 _“I don’t know!”_ Alison threw her arms in the air in defeat.

There was a long period of silence. Alison sat down on the edge of the bed next to her wife.

 _“Is this what it’s going to be like from now on?”_ She’d asked. _“The speculation. The judgement…”_

 _“I’m not judging you, Ali. I’m just trying to do what’s right by our children.”_ She bit her lip. _“I saw that gleam of hope in their eyes when you said you hadn’t decided yet.”_ She’d looked at Alison. _“You leave in two weeks. We need to prepare them.”_

 _“I saw that gleam, too.”_ Alison had sighed. _“And I hate the thought of hurting them.”_ She’d moaned in frustration. _“This would be so much easier if it was just me and you…”_ She’d quickly stopped herself, realizing she was veering into dangerous territory.

Emily had looked at her, a flicker of pain in her eyes. She stood up, the bed shifting.

_“What’s that supposed to mean?”_

_“Nothing. Forget I said that.”_

_“No. Where were you going with that?”_ Emily was visibly blinking back tears.

Alison felt like such an asshole. She hadn’t meant that. She was just upset, and she always tended to say the wrong thing when she was upset.

 _“You were going to say that it would be easier to just leave me?”_ Emily had asked. _“That the girls…”_

 _“I love them.”_ Alison cut her off. _“Of course I love them. And you. You and Grace and Lily are the best thing that ever happened to me. But sometimes I think you forget that I didn’t ask to be a mother, Emily.”_

She saw the pain wash across Emily’s face the second the venomous words tore through her lips. Alison regretted it immediately. It’s not like they hadn’t talked about it before. The trauma they’d both endured had hit its peak right before the twins were born. They’d both ended up in therapy because of it.

_“And I did? We both went into this knowing what it meant…”_

Something inside of Alison shifted, snapped. All the unresolved feelings she had about how they’d ended up pregnant came barreling towards her.

 _“You have no idea what it felt like. You couldn’t possibly understand…”_ Words were coming out quicker than she could censor them. _“They were your children...”_

 _“MY children?”_ It felt like salt being poured into her already open wounds. _“Wow.”_ Emily ran her fingers through her hair. She bit down on her tongue. _“All that talk about OUR family when you were pregnant? Did you not mean that?”_

_“Of course I meant it. You ARE my family. But sometimes I feel like a stranger in my own life.”_

_“You’re right. I don’t understand. When we stood face to face and read our vows we promised our lives to one another. We have always been a family. Nothing will ever change that. And those girls...our girls...they may have my DNA, but you’re their mother, Alison. You gave birth to them. You sang them to sleep the first night in the hospital. You held Lily’s hand when she was learning to walk. You helped Grace learn how to read. Those babies are OURS.”_

_“I love them so much. I wouldn’t trade them for the world. But you have to understand the amount of pressure I felt...”_ Alison scowled at her. The anger seemed to be coming from a deep place she’d locked away years ago. And she couldn’t stop it. _“I chose to have them. I never could have lived with myself if I was the reason you never got to have our babies.”_

_“So, what? You just did it because you didn’t want to disappoint me?”_

_“Of course not!”_ Alison snapped. _“I wanted them. YOU asked me to do this with you! But I didn’t ask for ANY of this!”_

Emily nodded silently, her eyes aflame. She clenched her jaw. Alison could see how much she’d hurt her.

_“Wait…Em, that…that came out wrong. I didn’t mean…”_

_“Mommy?”_ They heard a tiny noise behind them.

They both whipped around to see Lily standing in the doorway rubbing her sleepy eyes. She had her blanket clutched tightly to her chest. Their bickering had roused her. And if she was awake, Grace wasn’t far behind.

Emily didn’t even hesitate. She walked over and scooped her up into her arms. Lily’s head found her shoulder. She yawned and nuzzled against her mother’s neck. Emily turned around to face Alison.

 _“Hey, let’s get you back to bed, Lil.”_ Emily reached up and rubbed her back.

Alison could see the tears in Emily’s eyes. Her words had really stung her. She hadn’t meant to lose it. She just got frustrated with their situation sometimes. They loved each other. They always had and always would. But motherhood, their unplanned motherhood, had taken its toll on them. Alison had always promised she would never blame Emily for wanting their babies. And Emily had tried very hard to work on her reservations and insecurities that had plagued her for years. The problem with their situation was that there was no clear right or wrong. Both of them had fair points.

 _“Are you and mommy fighting?”_ Lily whined.

 _“Of course not. We were just having a grown up talk.”_ Emily tried to soften the blow. She glanced at Alison before walking out of the room.

 _“Emily, wait…”_ But her voice faded as she watched Emily walk away from her.

She cursed herself for her temper. She stood up to go after her, but tripped over a stray shoe sticking out from under her bed. She grumbled angrily and kicked the footwear. Then she swore like a sailor because of the sting she felt in her toes. She spun around and angrily threw her palm against the wall, trying not to scream, trying not to make things worse.

She laid her forehead against the plaster and took several deep breaths. She knew she needed to calm down, so she walked out of the room. She found herself in the kitchen a few minutes later pouring herself a glass of wine. She walked out on to the back porch and sipped on it until she felt a nice buzz. She stared at the night sky, wondering how different the stars were going to look in Beacon Heights…how different it would feel without her family.

Maybe it was a stupid decision. Maybe she shouldn’t go. She stared at her empty wine glass for quite some time before she decided to call it a night.

She assumed Emily would be sitting in the kitchen waiting for her. But she wasn’t. She checked the living room, wondering if their blow-out had been enough to warrant one of them sleeping on the couch. But there were no pillows and blankets on the sofa. She listened to see if she could hear Emily talking or singing to the girls. Sometimes she would read them stories and sing to them to get them back to sleep. But the house was silent.

Alison walked back to her room, where she found Emily sitting against the edge of the bed again. She was staring at a dusty old teddy bear. She glanced at Alison. She seemed lost in thought.

 _“Grace left it in the bay window in the living room with this.”_ She picked up a piece of scrap paper with messy handwriting in red crayon.

 _“Can we talk? Please?”_ Alison asked.

Emily waved her over, patting the bed next to her, inviting Alison to join her. Alison walked over. The first thing she did was glance at the note. Tears stung her eyes.

_“To Mommy, LOVE Gracie. Bearie WANTS 2 BE wif Mommy.”_

Alison felt her heart drop into her stomach. Emily stared at the bear.

 _“I should get this back to her before she wakes up and starts crying for him.”_ She rubbed the bear’s ear. She could feel the stitching where her mother had sewed it back on when Emily was three. _“I can’t believe this thing has held up all these years.”_

The bear had belonged to Emily when she was a little girl. Grace had latched on to it when she was six months old. It was her comfort blanket. Lily’s security blanket was an _actual_ blanket.

_“You know I actually overheard her telling Lily that if you go she doesn’t want you to be alone.”_

_“They got their loyalty from you.”_ Alison gently touched Emily’s arm, testing the waters, trying to determine if she was still pissed.

When Emily didn’t pull away Alison curled her fingers against Emily’s bicep. She reached up with her other hand and touched Emily’s cheek, forcing her to look at her.

_“You know I love you, right?”_

_“I know.”_

_“I know I have a history of running away. But that’s not what this is. I’m not trying to run from you. Or the girls. I just…I’ve been feeling a little aimless. I feel like my life doesn’t have quite the right direction that it should. I want to do more. I want to BE more than just who I was in my past.”_

_“I get it.”_ Emily didn’t argue, but her gaze drifted down towards the floor.

 _“This offer…I don’t think I’ll ever get another one like it. I could actually do something that could benefit our entire family.”_ She paused. She pressed her lips together in thought and then sighed. _“But if it’s going to cause issues between us, I don’t want it. I don’t want the job. I choose you and the girls. I will always choose you, Emily.”_

Emily looked back up at her.

 _“It’s not that simple.”_ Emily stood up. _“You shouldn’t have to choose. If it’s something you want, that you NEED…you should take the job. I can’t stand in the way of that. I don’t want you to look back and resent me for standing in your way.”_

She kept her back to her so Alison couldn’t see the tears in her eyes. The last thing Emily wanted was for Alison to move halfway across the country away from her…from their family. But knowing what she knew about Alison’s resentment and the fact that she felt restless and lost, Emily knew it’s something that Alison _needed_.

 _“I would never.”_ Alison assured her.

Alison reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back to her side. But Emily still wouldn’t look at her. The blonde knew it was because she didn’t want to cry. She dropped Grace’s bear to the floor, her eyes fixed on the messy stuffed animal.

 _“Come with me,”_ Alison suggested.

 _“We’ve been over this. You know I can’t. I can’t leave my mom.”_ Emily slowly turned to face her wife. _“Not so soon after her heart attack. I know she’s okay, but…I’m just not comfortable leaving her. I’m all she has.”_

_“Her friends…”_

_“Ashley and Ella are traveling half the time. I know she has her book club, but it’s not the same as having family nearby, just in case.”_

Alison nodded in understanding. She wasn’t sure exactly how family really worked. She certainly hadn’t had a normal upbringing. But she understood where Emily was coming from. She remembered when they’d gotten the call about Pam’s heart attack eight months ago. She’d never seen Emily so rattled. She’d put up a really good front in front of their friends and their children, but at night when it was just the two of them she cried herself to sleep in Alison’s arms every night for two weeks.

_“I’ll call you all the time. And we’ll text. And I’ll read the girls their bedtime story every night.”_

Emily silently nodded in agreement.

 _“We can do this,”_ Alison said. _“We can make this work. People make it work all the time. It doesn’t have to break us. Your parents made it work.”_ She reminded her.

She cupped Emily’s cheek. Their eyes finally met. Alison could see how much she was holding inside. And she understood. She understood because she was doing the same thing. They moved in at the same time, their lips meeting softly.

It was Alison who let the tears flow first. Emily reached up and caught the first drop that leaked out with her thumb. Seconds later, a tear slipped down Emily’s cheek. It hit the edges of Alison’s fingers as she caressed her face.

 _“Promise me you won’t stop loving me,”_ Alison pleaded softly.

 _“I could never.”_ Emily moved against her body, shifting her weight until she was pushing Alison down against the mattress.

Alison reached up and cradled Emily’s cheeks in her palms. Emily responded by placing her palm gently against the side of Alison’s neck. She looked at her longingly.

 _“I love you.”_ Emily moved down to kiss her. _“No matter what happens, no matter where we are…I need you to know that. I love you, Alison.”_

Alison blinked through her tears. She let one of her hands fall away from Emily’s face, moving it to her own cheek, pushing away the streaks of tears.

 _“Em, I need you.”_ She begged.

 _“You have me…”_ Emily assured her. _“You’ll always have me.”_

The next several minutes were a flash of greedy hands and clothing being shed, hot bodies pressed together, rolling around, a fight for dominance and control, but with the heavy undertone of love.

It was instinct. Passion. Desire. A need. A vow. A promise. It was everything they were. Everything they stood for.

They were lost in one another. They were one unit, a soul connecting in ways that could only strengthen their resolve. It was Alison who hit the height of her pleasure first. It always was. Emily never let her finish last. But she wasn’t far behind. Alison peered into her wife’s eyes, all traces of desolation and pain a distant memory.

 _“Alison.”_ Her voice was like an angelic choir calling out to her in every state of her being.

Seconds passed. The room started to fade from her field of vision. She heard a voice.

“Alison.” This time it was Mona. When she blinked she was back in Beacon Heights. “What do you say?”

“Huh?”

Mona’s face tightened in a mixture of confusion and annoyance. She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“Good God, you’re worse about spacing out than I am. And I spent time in an actual mental institution.” Mona gave her a hard time. “I said let’s go to my place. I’m feeling a bit peckish…”

“ _Peckish_? What are you, in a British primetime program?” Alison snorted.

“There she is.” Mona grinned. “Come on. You’ve got, what…an hour to kill before you have to get to your class on pseudo-economics or whatever?”

“An hour and a half.” Alison glanced at the clock. “And it’s Poly-Sci. I have to meet the required core classes before they’ll let me into my graduate classes.”

“You know, I could fix that with a little computer hacking magic.” Mona raised her brows mischievously.

“Mona…” Alison warned her.

“Kidding.” She made a point of glancing at one of the monitoring systems in Alison’s classroom. “Come on, you look like you could use something to eat.”

Alison didn’t question Mona. She knew it was a ploy to get away from Beacon Guard, so they could talk freely. There weren’t many places on campus that were dead zones…but Mona knew them all. Unsurprisingly, they ended up in one of the dead zones right outside campus lines in a vacant apartment Mona used as a hideout.

They walked in. Alison looked at the walls, which were covered in photographs and clippings with lines trying to draw connections to all of the weird stuff happening on campus. They walked over to the table in the middle of the room. There was a computer set up in the center of it. Two chairs were on opposite sides.

“So, what have you got for me?” Mona asked, sitting down, pointing for Alison to sit across from her.

“I told you, it’s a work in progress. I’m still trying to get them to trust me. I think they do, but it’s taking a little bit of time getting them to open up.”

“Or maybe one of them is our killer.”

“No. I don’t think so.” Alison shook her head.

“What makes you so sure one of them isn’t guilty?” Mona questioned.

“I’m not sure of anything.”

“Then why are you protecting them?”

“Keep your friends close…” Alison shrugged.

“Do you trust them?”

“I don’t know.”

There was a pause and Mona looked up from the computer screen. She hadn’t missed the fact that Alison was being a little more brief than usual.

“Do you trust _me_?” Mona asked.

Alison took her time with the question.

“Sometimes…”

It earned an unexpected laugh from Mona. Her best friend Hanna had told her the exact same thing years ago. It was a respectful answer. Because it was truthful.

“I love that you still want to see the good in everyone. It’s admirable.” Mona smiled.

Alison nodded. It’s what Emily would do. It’s what Emily had _taught_ her to do.

“I’ve been keeping tabs on them, too. We can start with the basics…what we know about them…” Mona started typing again.

Alison thought about what she’d learned about Ava, Caitlin, and Dylan over the past few days. You could tell a lot about a person by just listening to them. And that’s what she did in class, and outside of class, too.

“Well, Caitlin is insanely intelligent. Like…Spencer level intelligent.” Alison thought about it. “Maybe even smarter.”

“Don’t ever let her hear you say that,” Mona said. “I still have flashbacks to her strangling me over a debate table.”

“You deserved that.” Alison quickly jumped to her cousin’s defense.

“Fair enough.” Mona nodded with a slight laugh. “What else you got?”

“She’s got a lot of pressure at home. Her moms are prominent figures in politics, and that means Caitlin can’t screw up. Ever.” She paused and thought about it. “Though I guess the same could be said for everyone here. Dylan and Ava included. Dylan’s whole life revolves around his music. You can see the love he has for it in his eyes. But at the same time he’s become a slave to it, because right now that’s all he has to get him out of the shadows and into the light. And Ava…” The poor girl. “She makes my familial issues look like a romp in the park. Her parents have left her with a serious chip on her shoulder. She’s smart, but she’s very volatile…”

“None of this is new.” Mona looked at her, a hint of annoyance on her face. “I already know all of this. I’ve read their files.”

“Of course you have. But have you actually gotten to _know_ them or have you spent all your time staring at key words and algorithms and talking to machines?”

“Machines don’t get hurt feelings when getting feedback from their handlers.” Mona quipped back.

“Excuse me?” Alison was offended. “You are _not_ my…”

“Don’t be so sensitive. I’m just saying…categorically, computer algorithms make very few mistakes.” Mona cut her off. “And science doesn’t lie. Statistically speaking one in three people will commit a serious crime in their lifetime.” She glanced at the computer again. “Or in our case, every single person we know…”

“That was Rosewood…”

“Science.” Mona turned the computer towards Alison to show her the program she was looking at. She simply pointed to the screen.

“So, you’re saying people in Beacon Heights are just as shitty as people in Rosewood?”

“Maybe even more-so.”

“Great.” Alison muttered.

“With the pressure to be perfect anyone could snap at any moment. I’m actually surprised it took a murder _this_ long to happen here.”

“Tactful as always.” Alison frowned at Mona.

“You know as well as I do what kind of people this world is filled with. You were on the run long enough to see that.”

All Alison could do was nod in agreement. She glanced at Mona, deep in thought, as she always was when she was working on something.

“Do you really think one of those kids is responsible for what happened to Nolan?” Alison questioned.

“I don’t want to believe that, but we can’t rule it out.”

“Who is highest on your little…program thing?” Alison motioned towards the computer.

“Given the turbulence of their relationship? Ava. It could be a crime of passion…”

“Ava was devastated.” Alison shook her head in disagreement. “I saw her…”

“Maybe a little _too_ devastated?”

“What are you insinuating?”

“There are cameras everywhere, Alison. The kids aren’t ignorant to that. Cameras means acting. And a lot of it.”

“No.” Alison disagreed. “I think she truly loved him.”

“Or she wanted _them_ to think she did.”

“You can’t fake grief like that.”

“Anyone can fake anything if they’re motivated enough.” Mona looked at her, a curious expression on her face. She pulled Ava’s file up. “What else do we know about her?”

“Well, what are you looking for? Favorite food? Hobbies?” Alison asked sarcastically.

Mona was in one of her moods, and Alison had learned that when Mona was caving in on herself that all she could do was wait it out. She usually waited it out while being sassy.

“This is a murder investigation, not a dating app.” Mona scoffed. “You’re supposed to be digging into these kids’ lives.”

“I am,” Alison said. “At a very high cost, might I add. I could lose my scholarship. I could lose my job.” She paused. “I may have already lost Emily.”

That pulled Mona out of her spiral immediately.

“You haven’t lost your wife, Alison.” She assured her. “She’s just worried about you. That’s what Emily does. Your hero wants to ride in and rescue you. She doesn’t know how to just sit back and wait. But once this is all over, you two will go back to the way things were before. You have a wonderful family waiting for you. So…let’s solve this thing and get you back on the right track.” She insisted. “Give me more info on our tedious trio.”

“Dylan is an open book. He doesn’t try to lie low. He seems like a good kid with a good head on his shoulders. When he’s not working on his music he’s with his boyfriend…”

“Andrew.” Mona nodded, typing something in the computer. “He’s on my list, too. If Nolan was harassing Dylan Andrew might have stepped in. It could have gotten heated.”

“Caitlin seems to strictly fall in between the lines. She doesn’t do or say anything that could come back to bite her in the ass. She’s very calculated.”

“So if anyone threatened that stability, would she come back swinging?” Mona asked.

“At face value, I’d say no. But knowing what I know about what highly intelligent people are capable of…yes. Caitlin doesn’t strike me as violent. But she does strike me as protective.” A lot like Emily.

“And then we have Ava.” Mona was typing. “From what I’ve learned, Nolan was dating her on the sly. Something happened and then Ava was showing up to her Digital Media class drunk.”

“Yeah, she’s been pounding shots ever since Nolan died.” Alison nodded.

“No. This was the day before his death. She seemed distraught.” Mona pursed her lips in thought. “I think Nolan did something to upset her. He _was_ known for being a playboy…”

“So we have a manipulative sociopath holding insecurities and secrets over the heads of three very high-strung students who would do anything to keep their imperfect lives underwraps.” Alison frowned.

“Sound a little too familiar, hon?” Mona smirked.

Alison shot her a look. She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“Sorry, that was a low blow.” Mona tried to apologize. “We both know I was no saint, either.”

“Was Nolan really that terrible?”

“Were you?” Mona questioned. “Was I?” She paused. “Society molds us into unrecognizable versions of ourselves and these kids are under an _enormous_ amount of pressure here. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that we’re dealing with a mini-me or a mini-you. The question is, who among them is most likely to be _that_ impulsive?”

Alison thought about it for a moment.

“So far I haven’t seen any indication that Caitlin or Dylan have ever been at an emotional height to the point where they would be capable of murder. And nothing in either one of their pasts indicates any emotional disturbances.”

“And Ava?” Mona stopped typing and looked up at Alison.

“Ava’s situation is complicated. There are some parts of her past that are…” Alison searched for the right word, “murky.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Mona was intrigued.

“I’m not sure. I’m still trying to figure her out. She seems to be an outlier here. There’s something off about her, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. But I don’t want to confuse the pain she has from her past with the grief she’s feeling over Nolan’s loss.”

“Or the guilt of killing him?”

“That’s an awfully big leap without proof.”

“Hmm.” Mona nodded, like she was thinking something over. “You’re right. We need to dig deeper if we want answers. That outburst she had in class today, what was that about?”

“I don’t know. She was drunk and pissy.”

“You’ve got to look beyond the wall she’s put up, Ali. All you’re telling me is what you see on the surface.”

“Some little bitch made an off-handed comment about how Nolan probably killed himself to get away from her.”

“Jesus!” Mona huffed. “What the hell is wrong with people? I would have snapped, too.” She went back to typing on the computer. After a few seconds Mona pulled something up on the screen. “What do you make of Claire Hotchkiss?”

“Nolan’s mom? I don’t know.” Alison’s forehead creased in thought. She thought she’d had Nolan’s mother pegged when she first got to town, but ever since Nolan’s death she’d become a wild card. “Her son is dead. And her daughter...” Alison drifted off.

Mona looked at her curiously.

“What about her daughter? What about Taylor?”

“Something about her suicide doesn’t add up.” It had been bothering her since she’d gotten to town. “I don’t think it happened like it was reported.”

“You think she pulled a _you_?” Mona asked.

“You were dead once, too.” Alison reminded her.

“Yes, but you’re the one who chose to run.” Mona said. She looked at her computer screen again. She muttered “interesting” under her breath.

“But then I wonder why someone who seemingly had it all would pull that kind of stunt. I think I’m biased here, because of my past. I can’t look at that from a neutral standpoint. All I know is that regardless of how it happened, Claire Hotchkiss lost two of her children. She’s grieving.”

“Allegedly.”

“Now you think _she’s_ a suspect?”

“Everyone is.” Mona nodded. “You need to stop thinking like a mother and start thinking like the old Ali we all know and love.”

“What? Lying? Scheming? Conniving? Duplicitous?”

“Your words. Not mine.”

“I came here because I want a better life for my family…for my children…”

Mona’s expression softened. She knew how much Alison was struggling. She knew that there were no words to comfort her, so instead she just reached across the table and put her hand on top of Alison’s. Alison shot her a soft smile and quietly thanked her. It was a sweet motion of solidarity, but Alison couldn’t stop herself from wondering who was doing the same for her wife. Who was there for her now that she was gone? Who was comforting Emily?

“I know it’s not my place, but…whatever it is, you two will get through it.” Mona assured her. “And I don’t need science to tell me that.”

Mona’s kindness sparked an overflow of emotions inside of Alison. Her phone felt like it was burning a hole through her pocket. Still not one word from Emily.

“She stopped answering my calls and texts yesterday.”

Admittedly, she’d been unavailable most of the day, but it had hit a soft spot when she’d tried to Facetime to read the girls their bedtime story last night, only for the call to go unanswered. It was possible that they’d all been asleep, because Alison hadn’t gotten home until late in the evening, meaning it was past midnight in Rosewood. But at the very least she’d expected Emily to pick up. But there had been no word from her. Not even a text.

“You know, long before technology became a thing people went twenty-four hours without talking to one another without assuming the worst.”

“It’s just unlike her. That’s all.” Alison pointed out. “Does Beacon Guard have the monopoly on cell towers out here, too? Could they be interfering with my cell service?”

“I can’t imagine why they’d do that.” Mona shook her head. “Besides, you’ve been getting my texts, haven’t you?”

“And two from Aria.” Alison admitted.

“Ah, how is our favorite little Hollywood screenwriter?” Mona’s face lit up.

“You mean did she give me an update on what your ex-boyfriend is up to these days?” Alison cocked an eyebrow at her with a smile. “Mike is fine.” Alison rubbed her forehead. “Hey, what ever happened with you two?”

“I don’t know,” Mona said. “I really did love him. But deep down something just never felt quite right between us.”

“Yeah. I know what you mean.” Alison nodded. “Before Emily, I had a lot of those moments.”

Mona looked off, seemingly in thought. After a few seconds she looked at Alison and nodded.

“Well, your ex-husband did kind of torture you and try to kill you, sooo…”

“You ever wonder where we’d be if we’d had normal lives?” Alison asked.

“Probably stuck in some menial existence with a mundane life without any real sense of purpose and direction, doomed to walk the same path as every other lemming around us.”

“You know what I really admire about you? Your optimistic take on life.” Alison replied caustically.

Alison’s phone started beeping, and for a second she got her hopes up, thinking that maybe Emily was texting her to let her know that her phone died or that Lily had accidentally dropped it into the toilet bowl and she’d had to get a new one. Lily had done that three times before. But then she remembered she’d set her alarm.

“Crap. I’ve got to run.” She got to her feet. “I’ve got a meeting.”

“Adulting is so very hard.” Mona smiled.

“Call me if anything comes up.” Alison walked towards the door.

“The code word is _Checkmate_.”

“Or you could just tell me to come over like a normal person?” Alison suggested.

“Alison, we’re _not_ in a normal town.” Mona reminded her.

“Well, hopefully this Queen will have more information on her rooks’ moves the next time we have one of these pow-wows.” Alison reached the door. She turned around and looked at Mona, a maternal look on her face. “Hey, be careful, okay?”

“I think I know how to look out for myself.” Mona waved her off. “But thanks. And you watch your back, too.”

She took Mona’s advice to heart all day. She was alert, and little bit jumpy. She felt like something was wrong…something that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She glanced at her phone constantly, checking for updates from Emily. It was unlike her to not send pictures of the girls getting into mischief. There was nothing. Not even on her social media.

She tried calling her twice between classes, but both calls went straight to voicemail. She checked with Hanna, who was in Rosewood visiting her mother, but Hanna hadn’t heard from her either. She checked with Emily’s mother, Pam, to see if Emily was there, because the girls loved seeing their grandmother.

Pam told her that she hadn’t spoken to her all day, but that she knew Emily had been busy with her girls on the swim team all week. She usually took Grace and Lily with her and let them play on their ipads.

Before Alison’s last class of the night she called and left a message for Emily, asking her just to let her know everything was okay.

 _“If…if you’re mad at me, I understand. I know I haven’t been available the past few days and I get that you’re pissed at me for canceling another weekend. I’ve just been swarmed here. But I miss you, Em. And I just want to know that you’re okay. So please just…call me. Or hell, even send a text that just says ‘K’.”_ Which they’d often joked was the most passive-aggressive text to send someone. But she’d settle for that right now. She glanced at the clock and realized she was going to be late for class. _“I’ve got to go. I’ve got class. But…call me. I love you.”_

She hung up and scurried into her last class of the evening. She felt like she _lived_ at school. When she wasn’t teaching she was busy being a student herself. And investigating a murder. And trying to hold her family together.

She chewed on her pen cap, which was a horrible habit, but she had a lot of nervous energy. With everything going on in Beacon Heights it was hard not to let her paranoia run wild. She glanced at her phone every few minutes, hoping to see something from Emily. It finally got to the point where the professor said something to her about it. Alison apologized and shoved her phone into her bag.

Alison didn’t get home until around ten thirty that night. And she still hadn’t heard a peep from Emily. It was starting to piss her off. What she didn’t realize was that Emily hadn’t been getting her messages.

In Rosewood, Emily’s phone sat untouched on the end table next to their bed, the battery nearly drained. It had an unfinished draft open to Alison in her text app,

_“Just came across something interesting about BH. Call you later? I love...”_

Their room was in disarray, signs of a struggle seemingly apparent. The little sounds of pitter-pattering feet hadn’t filled the halls in over twenty-four hours. The house was dark, and from the street it appeared empty. But a shadow moved through the hallway into their master bedroom. A new message popped up, flashing across the screen of Emily’s phone,

_“Em, please call me. I know it’s late. But I’m really worried.”_

A hand reached out in the darkness, grasping the phone. It took a minute to get bypassed Emily’s lockscreen, which was a selfie of her, Alison, and the twins. Slim fingers tapped against the screen until a “find my phone” app appeared. Another tap pulled up Alison’s contact information. It searched for Alison’s location.

It found nothing. Because the second she’d left town she’d turned it off, much to Emily’s dismay. But after she’d thought about it, Emily knew it was the right move. Beacon Heights was safe. Allegedly. Emily had talked about turning her location off as well, but Alison made a valid point that if something happened and the girls were with her it would be safer if the location was on.

On the opposite end of the phone, Alison was searching for Emily’s location. It popped up on her screen.

Home sweet home.

But what she didn’t realize is that Emily wasn’t there. Alison peered at her phone. She could see that Emily was home. Or at least, that’s what the phone was showing. Was she ignoring her? She hastily tapped her fingers against her screen, typing a message,

_“I know you’re at home. Are you putting the girls to bed? I want to read them their story.”_

No matter what they were going through, Alison and Emily had always agreed to put the girls first. Co-parenting was their priority. Emily wouldn’t ignore her request. They were moms first.

There was no response.

Alison furrowed her brow in thought. Maybe Emily had fallen asleep reading Grace and Lily to sleep. It’s not like she hadn’t done it before. She looked at the clock and realized that it was almost 1:30 in Rosewood. Of course Emily wasn’t answering. The time difference was going to be the death of her.

_“Call me when you wake up. Goodnight, Love.”_

The battery was at a critical level. Emily’s phone pinged in the darkness. Instead of answering, the person in the dark deleted the message Emily had drafted and slipped the device into their pants pocket and quickly rushed out of the house. On the way out, a foot in a heavy boot came down upon a small ratty stuffed animal. The person stopped long enough to observe it.

Grace’s teddy bear. The one she dragged with her everywhere. The one she never went anywhere without. The person moved down and grabbed the bear by its leg, staring at it for a moment before disappearing into the dark night.


	3. Strategy

**A/N:** _As I’ve done in my previous “Domestic Emison” stories, I have played with the timeline of the AD reveal from the OG series. To keep things a little less confusing as far as timelines go, in this story the events from the PLL series finale take place prior to Lily/Grace being born. Just easier to keep track of time jumps that way. Here we go. Buckle your seat belts and keep your arms in legs inside the ride at all times._

* * *

  **Chapter 3:**

**Strategy**

Alison laid in bed that night thinking about every single bump in the road she and Emily had hit since they’d gotten together. No marriage was perfect. They knew that going into it. But they loved one another and were determined to make it work. After all, they had survived feats much less difficult than marriage.

When Alison had met with Emily’s mom to ask for Emily’s hand in marriage they had talked about what went into a marriage. Pam had shared a lot of intricate details of how she and her late husband had made it work for so long. She talked about how she just wanted her daughter to be happy. And Alison assured her of that happiness. Alison appreciated Pam’s candor. She’d promised her that she was in love with her daughter. She’d never been more certain of anything in her life.

It was hard for her not to question when exactly things had gotten rocky between them. When they fought they fell back on old habits. Emily’s insecurities came out by way of overreactions. Alison had a habit of running, of being anywhere _but_ around the conflict. Because when she stayed she said and did things she regretted. But she’d worked on that very hard over the years. They had _both_ worked on their flaws. But that meant conflict for the two of them, though a healthy amount of conflict was expected in any relationship. That’s how people grew.

Before the girls had been born they’d bickered over little things like vitamins and eating habits. Emily was overprotective and a touch neurotic, and Alison was stubborn as hell during her pregnancy, because she didn’t like being told what to do. They’d gotten into a pretty big blow-out when Alison had been put on bed rest when she was seven months pregnant.

She hated being confined. And she resented being pregnant. She didn’t resent the babies. She would never resent their children. But she was mad at her own body, and she took it out on Emily. Still, they managed to never go to bed angry, something that Emily had learned from her mom and dad. Her dad had often told her that even if you were in the middle of being angry at someone, you should never miss a chance to tell them you love them. Because there was always the possibility that you’d wake up and they’d be gone.

Once the babies came along the bickering had settled, the little things dropped away. They were too busy with two newborns to fight. They had to get on the same page if they wanted to survive the insanity of motherhood. Things still weren’t easy, but there was a sense of family that Alison had never had before. But getting there had been a struggle.

Shortly before the girls had been born Alison had been dealing with a ton of emotional baggage. She’d always been afraid that she wouldn’t be capable of love. The only person in her life she’d ever _truly_ loved was Emily. She had an internal fear that she wouldn’t be able to connect with the babies, especially given the circumstances of their conception.

Alison had been a hormonal mess by the time the third trimester rolled around. Feelings of terror and inadequacy haunted her dreams every night. On top of that, they’d both had nightmares about the trauma they’d endured, not just with the conception of the twins, but everything they’d been through. All of the torture. All of the PTSD.

Emily had always been horrible at dealing with it. She usually buried it inside and projected it on to helping other people deal with their problems while ignoring her own. Alison was short-tempered and lashed out at others, especially those closest to her. She knew that the people who loved her would never leave her, though deep down she had a fear of abandonment that exuded itself into a manipulative neediness.

They’d been working on their issues together. They’d been working on trying to be open and honest in their relationship. It was an ongoing process. It wasn’t something that was just _solved_ , because relationships were work. And adding kids to the mix just made things more intense.

Alison hadn’t had the best upbringing. Absentee father. Manipulative mother. She’d learned terrible behaviors at an early age that she was still unlearning. She would constantly be working on herself.

But would it be enough for her children?

 _“I’m terrified.”_ She’d admitted to Emily one night when she was eight and a half months into her pregnancy.

They’d been lying in bed trying to go to sleep, but Alison hadn’t been able to get comfortable. Everything hurt. And she had to pee all the time, so she rarely got any sleep. And she was anticipating that, which made her insomnia worse, which made her neurosis worse. Emily had been giving her a massage to try to help her relax. She was rubbing some lotion against Alison’s protruding belly.

 _“What’s wrong?”_ Emily had asked.

 _“What if I can’t connect with them? What if the…donor…”_ God she hated that word, but they didn’t know how else to phrase it. They didn’t want “rapist” associated with their babies, _“is…is someone we know, and we see that?”_

They’d gone back and forth about wanting to know who the twins’ father was. The person responsible for the whole plan was behind bars. Spencer’s psychotic twin certainly wasn’t giving anything up. And Mary Drake claimed she had no idea who had helped Alex with it, but Spencer told them if they really wanted to know she could figure out a way to extract it out of her twisted sister.

Part of them wanted to know…needed to have that closure. But the other part of them feared knowing, because they didn’t want to have any negative connotations or expectations of their babies. And it wouldn’t matter. Because they loved their children regardless.

 _“What if they look like him? What if it’s someone terrible? Someone we hate?”_ Even worse… _“What if THEY hate ME? What if they know I’m not their real mom? What if…”_

 _“Hey…”_ Emily had stopped her tailspin by gently taking her hands. _“You ARE their real mom, Alison. And they are going to love you as much as I do.”_ She’d gently stroked her cheek.

Alison had immediately responded to her touch. She always did. Emily was like the damn Alison-Whisperer. A simple look. A simple touch. And Alison was putty in her hands. It had gotten much more prominent since she’d ended up pregnant with Emily’s children. _Their_ children. It was a strange connection, but it was there. And Alison felt it.

 _“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”_ Alison admitted. _“I am just…so unsure about so much.”_

 _“I get that.”_ Emily nodded. _“Trust me, I was not expecting anything like this. I know this isn’t exactly what we planned for our lives, but here we are. Together. And I think that says a lot.”_ She’d kissed her forehead, earning an earnest smile from the blonde. _“I spent my whole life trying to plan everything down to the letter. But everything I tried to do was derailed. My swim scholarship, most of my relationships in high school, hell…even college wasn’t what it was supposed to be for me. And if it’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that you can’t plan your whole life around something you can’t control. It’s either going to happen, or it’s not. And love…and family, that just makes it all the more uncontrollable. You don’t happen to life. Life happens to you.”_

 _“I think you’re wrong about one thing.”_ Alison had looked at her curiously, bright embers of blue flame that burned heavily in the low light in the room.

_“Yeah? What’s that?”_

_“When you love someone, planning your life around them is more controlled than anything else in the world.”_

Even before she’d consciously known about her feelings for Emily she found herself doing things to be near her. She’d never felt more in control than when the two of them were sharing an intimate moment. But at the same time, she felt comfortable letting go of that control, because she knew she was safe with her. It was a balancing act.

 _“Promise me that you’ll always love me?”_ Alison had moved in closer to the warm body beside her. _“That even if I’m a miserable shrew of a mother that our children hate...”_

_“Alison, that’s not going to happen...”_

_“Just promise me that we’re going to be okay.”_

_“Hey, there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Nothing.”_ Emily had delicately brushed aside some of her long blonde locks. _“We’re going to be okay, Ali. I promise. I’ll never let anything happen to you.”_ She’d moved her hand down to Alison’s stomach, holding her palm there while looking into Alison’s eyes, _“...to us.”_

Alison had looked into Emily’s eyes that night, and she’d felt it in her heart that they were going to be okay. Long before Beacon Heights was even a blip on their radar. She had been convinced that there was nothing she couldn’t do without Emily by her side.

But Emily wasn’t by her side anymore. Alison was in an empty bed. And that was Alison’s choice, _their_ choice, but ultimately hers. Emily had never told her she couldn’t go. She hadn’t _liked_ the idea, but she didn’t fight her on it. Because Emily was smart enough to know that resisting would only push her away. She didn’t want to stand in Alison’s way, so she’d taken on the bittersweet role of supporting her in the choice.

Now, here they were, on separate coasts. In separate beds. Living separate lives. It certainly felt like another challenge, but Emily had just told her days ago that she was done fighting…and that she supported her. So, what could have changed her mind to the point where she was avoiding her completely?

Maybe Mona had been on to something when she told Alison that Emily wouldn’t be able to stay on the sidelines very long, nor was Emily buying the bullshit story that Alison was keeping her head down and staying out of the drama. If Emily had found out she was involved in the murder investigation that might have pissed her off. Alison couldn’t stand the thought of going to bed angry, so she sent one last text.

_“I love you.”_

She scrolled through her phone, looking at pictures of her and Emily and the girls over the years, trying to calm her nerves. The last image she saw before she fell asleep was a selfie Emily had taken with the girls at breakfast a few days ago. All three of them were blowing kisses at the camera. It made her heart ache. She missed them.

The next morning the first thing Alison did was pick up her phone to look for a text message or a voicemail from Emily. All she had was a phone call from an unknown number, one of those spammer calls. Why couldn’t technology think of a way to filter those out of existence? She had a message from Mona saying she needed to talk ASAP and one from Dana Booker asking to meet up with her.

The Beacon Heights Security Team, also known as the one-woman-destructo crew had really been digging her heels in lately. She’d gotten personal with Mona two days ago, brazenly admitting that she knew about the little tryst Mona had in Paris with convicted felons, who honestly deserved a lot worse. Mona held her own, as she always did.

Alison had been avoiding her, because the woman made her irrationally angry. She looked at her phone and sighed, slamming her head back against her pillow. She hit the speed dial for Emily. It went straight to voicemail.

 _“Emily, this is starting to piss me off. Seriously. You want to talk about me not being available? I’m trying here. And it’s not fair to put Lily and Grace in the middle. I want to talk to my daughters...”_ She paused and then sighed. _“Sorry, I didn’t mean that. I’m just…worried. And it’s early…”_ She glanced at the clock, _“And I haven’t had my coffee yet, and you know what I’m like when I don’t…”_

A beep cut her off, an automated response saying,

_“If you are satisfied with your message press 1, to re-record your message press 2…”_

Alison went to press 2, because she’d obviously been a dick and none of that was really what she wanted to say. She knew that Emily would never use their daughters as pawns, no matter how pissed off she was. But when she hit 2, the call disconnected.

“Damn it!” Alison looked at her phone.

She felt like throwing it into the wall and shattering it. But if she did that it would probably just be replaced with a newer model with more spy-ware that would learn her habits and do all kinds of other creepy things.

As if on cue, her phone beeped. Alison looked at it hopefully, expecting to see Emily’s name pop up. Instead, she got a text from an unknown number. A different one than the missed call.

_“Need to meet. Urgent. -N.”_

She started to text back that they had the wrong number, but then figured _…_ what was the point? She glanced at the clock and realized she was already behind this morning. She had papers to grade and her _own_ schoolwork to do. And she had to find time to meet up with Mona, who had been keeping tabs on Ava, Caitlin, Dylan, and Claire.

The last conversation she’d had with Mona last night was in code. They’d developed a way to talk to one another without Beacon Guard knowing their true intentions. Mona’s idea, of course. She was obsessed with chess. She was obsessed with the game of strategy.

There was a time when all Mona did was play games. Apparently, even when she’d been kidnapped and locked in the dollhouse, games had been a big part of her enclosure. Her captor, who no one had known was Charlotte at the time, had played all kinds of strategy games with her, knowing Mona couldn’t resist a battle of wits.

Emily told Alison that when she and the rest of their friends had been taken to the underground bunker where they’d been held captive that Mona still had an affinity for games. She had an obsession with beating their captor.

Emily didn’t talk to Alison about what had happened there. None of her friends would talk to her about it, but she’d seen the lasting effects it had on all of them. Sometimes she saw Mona go to that strange cloudy place in her mind. And Alison knew what she was thinking, because she’d seen the exact same look on her wife’s face hundreds of times over the years.

At that very moment, Mona was sitting in her living room, waiting on Alison to return her call. She was starting to get impatient. The only thing that kept her from having a panic attack was running her fingers across a digital screen with a chess board. She moved pieces around, trying to clear her mind, just like she’d done in the dollhouse years ago.

That place had been hell. It had been horrible when it was just her by herself. She’d been brainwashed into thinking that she was nothing more than a robot. The only thing that kept her sane was playing games.

Then…Charlotte had brought Emily, Hanna, Spencer, and Aria into the hellish prison. At first, Mona was relieved to have company…to not be alone anymore. Not to mention there was strength in numbers. But then she was horrified at the thought that they were there. And she was afraid that they’d all die there.

The unknown forces that had been torturing her from behind a smokescreen started to do the same to her friends. They all slowly started to submit to Charlotte’s demands. Everyone except for Emily. One by one they broke. Spencer, surprisingly, was the first to give in. She became sullen and withdrawn. Hanna wasn’t far behind. Aria had resisted longer than Mona was expecting. She’d had a full blown meltdown one day, screaming at the cameras watching them, daring whoever was doing this to them to show their damn face.

Emily resisted everything she was told to do. It was a stubborn trait. It was the military in her blood. She had a lot more of her father in her than Mona had ever realized. But that made her dangerous, and Charlotte knew that.

There was a period of time where Mona was separated from everyone but Emily. She’d gotten a note telling her she had a shot at freedom if she played a game with Emily, a game that Emily wouldn’t know they were playing. The objective was to get Emily into the closet and then press a hidden button in a small panel by the door. The note didn’t specify what the button did, but it was enough to make Mona’s stomach churn.

It was an agonizing choice to make. Because _if_ she got a shot at freedom, couldn’t she just go for help? Or was she so far gone that the person pulling the strings figured she would just walk away from it?

What she didn’t know is that Charlotte had written Emily the same exact note. In the end, they’d both refused to hurt one another. Charlotte had punished them for their insubordination by turning the sprinklers on and then corralling them into a room and turning the air conditioner down to arctic chill, or least that’s what it had felt like.

Emily had pulled her windbreaker off and draped it over Mona’s bare shoulders to help try and curb her chill. Mona had been surprised at the motion.

_“Why are you helping me?”_

_“Because you’re not the enemy here. You’re stuck here, too.”_ She’d paused and looked around the cold dark room. The only things in it were two chairs, a chess board, a fake potted plant and a box full of junk they’d both looked through when they were forced into the room. _“And you look like you could use a friend.”_

_“Is that what we are?”_

_“Of course.”_ Emily had seemed offended by the question.

_“Well, it’s so hard to tell. One minute you all are Team Mona and the next you’re Team Screw Mona.”_

Emily had taken a seat next to her.

 _“We care about you, Mona. We’ve been shitty about showing it, but we do. You don’t know how devastated we were when we got to your house and…”_ She’d taken a thoughtful breath, _“…all that blood. We just…we imagined the struggle. The fight you must have put up. Hanna was damn near inconsolable, and when we saw all that blood in your room…”_ She shook her head. _“It was real. Visceral. You know, I’ve lost people before, but that was…it hurt like hell. You have no idea.”_

Mona hadn’t had the words to reply. All she’d been able to do was smile at her. They’d sat in silence for a few minutes. Emily had looked around the room and then sighed.

_“Is this where you’ve been? Locked in this room with…nothing?”_

_“It only uses this room for punishment.”_ Mona shook her head. _“Here or…”_ She’d swallowed hard. _“The hole…with no food or water for days.”_

_“Jesus, I’m so sorry.”_

_“You don’t have to call me Jesus, Em. We’ve known each other long enough for you to call me Mona.”_

It had been an unexpected icebreaker they’d both sorely needed. Mona had shivered from the cold and then wrapped Emily’s windbreaker tighter around her body. She’d glanced at Emily. If she was cold, she was hiding it well.

 _“Why didn’t you do it?”_ Mona asked.

_“Huh?”_

_“The closet. I’ve done so many horrible things to you. I would have thought you’d take the chance to save everyone else…”_

_“We’re past that.”_ Emily had shrugged. _“Besides, there was no guarantee that this psycho really would have let me go. It’s probably just another one of their sick games. I wasn’t willing to take that chance.”_ She’d glanced at the shorter brunette. _“Why didn’t you do it?”_

_“Because it wasn’t the right move.”_

_“Play to win.”_ Emily had nodded in agreement. She’d been staring at the chessboard, because there was absolutely nothing else to look at in the room.

 _“You know how to play?”_ Mona stood up and moved over towards the checkered board.

_“I used to play with my dad. I was never very good. Always wanted to up my game.”_

Mona had stared at the game pieces until her vision became blurry.

Seconds later, she was shaking herself out of the memory. She found herself staring at the digital chessboard at her place in Beacon Heights. And then her mind was on a journey to try and put all the pieces of Nolan’s murder together. Three “close” friends who really weren’t that close to him, all except for Ava. An overbearing mother. A _potentially_ dead sister. Alison had been right about Taylor. Mona had found some holes in her suicide story. She’d also pegged a few phone calls and texts that Nolan had on a burner phone talking to someone outside of the security system’s range.

“I’m missing something,” Mona uttered to herself. “What am I missing?”

Pieces. All the pieces. She had all the pieces. But what was her move here? She looked down at the notes she’d taken, which would look like gibberish to anyone else, but made perfect sense in her mind. Codes. Algorithms. She started writing another string of equations down.

_Play to win._

She heard a knock at the door, startling her out of her trance.

“ _Entrer_.” She’d been expecting Alison, so she wasn’t surprised to see her walking in with breakfast.

“Hey, we need to make this quick.” Alison shut the door. “I’ve got to get to class…”

“Where the hell have you been?” Mona asked, nearly manic. “I’ve been calling you all morning.”

“I do have my own life, Mona.” Alison put the food down on the table.

“It turns out your theory about the Hotchkiss family might be right.” Mona went back to writing on her notepad.

“Which one?” Alison moved towards her, noticing the hours and hours worth of scrawl on sheets and notebooks and boards all around her.

“Taylor. I think she was in contact with Nolan before he died…”

Alison’s head shot towards the security system.

“Please, Alison. I’m not an amateur. I have a livestream from yesterday on a loop.”

“So, you believe me about Taylor?”

“I can’t prove anything, but Nolan _was_ in contact with someone before he died. Someone _not_ on Beacon Guard’s radar. My system would have pegged it if it was one of his posse. And it definitely wasn’t his mother. He was…intimidated by her. He didn’t trust anyone. So much so that he was paranoid about it sometimes. It was in his file.” She picked up a thick file. “But he _was_ close to his sister. What I can’t figure out is what happened the night _she_ allegedly killed herself. I think if we figure that out, we can figure out who killed Nolan.”

“So, we’re looking at people who would want to hurt Taylor now?”

“They may be one in the same, but they also may be two completely separate entities. Nolan may have been killed because he knew too much.”

Alison sighed and thought about something.

“Did you say he was using a burner phone?”

“Yeah. Why?”

Alison dug her phone out, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. That message. That weird message.

“Do you have the number?” She held her phone out to Mona to show her the text.

Mona looked at it like it was a puzzle at first. But then her eyes lit up.

“Shit.” Mona grabbed her phone and stared at it like it was a bomb. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me about this?”

“I just got it this morning. I didn’t think anything of it. I get spam all the time. I just thought it was a wrong number.”

“The time stamp on this is dated the night he died.”

“Are you kidding me?” Alison ran her fingers through her hair. “What the hell am I supposed to do? I’ve got a meeting with Dana in ten minutes! She’s been on my ass about this since I got to town. Do you know what this looks like?”

“Like someone is trying to frame you for murder.”

“Great. We’re back to that again. Same shit, different town.”

“Okay. Okay, don’t panic.” Mona opened up an app on her phone.

“What are you doing?”

“She probably won’t ask to see your phone. Not without a warrant…”

“Yeah, because she’s so good about doing things by the book.” Alison rolled her eyes. How ironic that her last name was _Booker_.

“I have an app in testing that can put up a cloak of invisibility…” She tapped the screen with her fingers, “…figuratively speaking, of course. And… _voila_. Hidden message. No one can see it. Not even the phone company.” Mona continued playing with the phone. “I’m just…sending the information to me, so I can see if I can get more out of it.” When she finished she looked up at Alison. “There ya go, hon.”

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to just delete it?” Alison snatched her phone.

“We may need it later.” Mona shook her head. “I’ll look into it. See if it was really sent from him or a ghost account.”

“Why would he want to talk to _me_ of all people? I’m new here. I don’t even know anyone.”

“Which is precisely what he might have needed. People who _don’t_ know Beacon Heights.” Mona pointed out.

“If that message was intercepted…someone may have lured him out to his death using _my_ name.” Alison realized. She was horrified. “We have to find this bastard.”

“We’re getting closer.” Mona was certain. “But for now we’ve got to keep up this charade. I’ll keep being my incredibly brilliant self, and you…” She looked at Alison with a cheeky smile, “…you do you.”

“Wow, that’s inspired. Thanks for that,” Alison replied sarcastically.

“I’m going to follow a few leads. I might be incognito the rest of the day, just FYI.” Mona jotted something down.

“I’ll cancel my meeting with Dana…”

“No, that’s the _last_ thing you should do. If you do that she’s going to know something it up. This only works if we keep playing our roles here. Just act natural when you meet up with her. In fact, let her do most of the talking. She seems to like to hear herself talk.” Mona rolled her eyes.

Alison took Mona’s advice. She walked to the coffee shop across the street from Mona’s place. She saw that Dana was already there. Of course she was early. Alison took a breath and went in, ready for the barrage of questions. What she wasn’t ready for was the content of those questions. It had started out innocent enough. Dana had offered to buy her a coffee, but Alison declined.

“Visiting an old friend?” Dana nodded towards Mona’s place as they took a seat.

“Comparing notes on our students.” Alison shrugged. “She is their advisor, after all.”

“You and Mona go way back, don’t you?”

“Well, we were in Brownies together.” Alison smiled, revealing nothing. “She could make a mean s’more.”

Dana smiled back, a duplicitous expression in her eyes. She was like a lion ready to pounce. Alison thought she was ready…until the woman sidelined her with questions that weren’t related to Nolan’s death at all. Dana switched gears and flat out railroaded her with questions about her family.

“It must have been hard to come out here where no one knows you.”

“Well, the university offered me an amazing opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.” Alison replied, maintaining eye contact with the bitch. She was _not_ going to blink first.

“Still. Your family must miss you.” Dana glanced at something in a notepad. “How long were you married?”

 _Strange way to phrase the question._ What was her game?

“We’re going on three years now.” She’d married Emily shortly after the girls were born. They’d worn little matching flower girl dresses. “But we’ve been together a lifetime.”

“This is your second marriage, correct?”

Alison felt a burning fire in the pit of her stomach. She had a brief flash where she imagined herself lunging over the table at her and strangling her. Alison grit her teeth and ignored the question. Dana could see she was pressing her buttons, and she kept doing it.

“I’ve heard that things have been a little turbulent for the two of you.”

“That’s how marriage works. It’s not all sunshine and butterflies.” Alison glanced at Dana’s coffee, wondering if it was hot, wondering if it would burn her if she threw it in her face. “The important thing is that at the end of the day you still love each other.”

“Hmm. So true.” Dana nodded, an eerie smile on her face. “So, when was the last time you spoke with your wife?”

“I…” Alison tried to play it off coolly, “I can’t recall exactly. We’ve both been busy.”

“I can’t imagine you go long in between conversations, not with those two beautiful little girls. Lily and Grace, is it?”

Alison was caught off-guard, because she’d been very careful not to talk to people she didn’t trust about her family. She’d tried to blend in with the crowd. She didn’t want people to start nosing into her history. Claire Hotchkiss knew almost everything about her past, but she’d promised Alison she’d be discreet.

 _“I know what it’s like to live life under the microscope,”_ Claire had told her shortly before Nolan was killed.

Now, Alison was questioning everything the woman had ever told her. Because who else would know all the intricate details about her life? She knew Mona wasn’t the one talking.

God. She trusted _Mona_ of all people. If someone had told her back in high school that the two of them would end up being friends she would have laughed them right out of town. But now, Mona was the only person in town she _didn’t_ think was suspicious.

“How old did you say your twins were?” Dana asked.

“I didn’t,” Alison replied coolly.

“You got pregnant in your first marriage, right?” She thumbed around with the file on the table. “Archer Dunhill?”

Alison saw red.

“…or…Elliott Rollins, as he told you. On paper, you two seemed happy. Want to tell me what happened there? I mean, other than him turning out to be someone entirely different than you thought he was?”

“I don’t see how _any_ of this is relevant.” _Hitting her wouldn’t be worth the jail time._ Alison told herself. _God, but it would be so satisfying._

“I just find your history…intriguing. Your first husband turned up dead while you were in a mental hospital. Usually they look at the spouses, but you had your alibi. Institutionalized at the time for…” She read her notes, “…vivid and violent hallucinations. But that didn’t stop the police from looking at you. But not just you. They were looking at you _and_ your friends. But then…a woman just walked in off of the street and confessed. No connections. No motive. Just a random confession.”

All Alison could hear in her head was Mona telling her to keep quiet and let Dana talk. So she just shrugged indifferently, though she was raging inside.

“You know, I was curious about how quickly you jumped from one marriage to the next…”

“I loved her long before anyone else came along, and that feeling never went away. She was always there for me.” She couldn’t stop herself from defending her relationship.

“I’m just saying that the timing is interesting. Not just the relationships, but the timing of your pregnancy. Judging by the age of your girls, the conception would have been around the time you were institutionalized.”

Alison tried to keep a straight face. How the hell did she know about that? No one knew the truth. The _horrible_ truth about how the twins had been conceived. She glared at her. If looks could kill, the woman would be running around with her stupid bushel of Marge Simpson hair on fire and the rest of her body being ripped apart by rabid dogs.

“Your math is wrong.” Alison curled her fingers into a fist underneath the table.

“No. No, I don’t think so.” Dana smiled. “See, I found a record of a DNA test done before your daughters were born, which is interesting enough as it is.”

Of course she was doing things the shady way. Of course she’d hacked her way into Alison’s medical records. Or bribed someone. Dirty cops were the _worst_.

“If you were married to Rollins at the time you got pregnant, how is it that your children have neither his…nor _your_ DNA?”

That was the breaking point for Alison. It had always been a soft spot for her. And she had a feeling Dana Booker knew that.

“What does any of this have to do with Nolan Hotchkiss?” Alison snapped.

“I’m just trying to paint a picture of everyone in this town so I have the full story.”

“I see. Do you harass my students like this as well?” Alison glared angrily at her.

“I’m just doing my job.”

“Well, I’m sorry I can’t stay here and listen to you berate my life, which you know _absolutely_ nothing about, by the way, or I’m going to be late for _my_ job. You know, a job that actually makes a difference.” Alison hastily stood up. “We’re done here, Detective Booker. If I hear of you harassing my students the way you’ve handled me today you can bet your ass your boss is going to hear about it.” She leaned over her, a power move. “And if you even _think_ about dragging my wife and my children into this you _will_ regret it.”

“Is that a threat, Mrs. DiLaurentis?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps your superior would like to know that you’re accessing personal medical files and violating my constitutional rights.”

“Mmm.” She stood up, coming face to face with Alison. She took a sip of her coffee and then smiled at her. “Have a nice day. I’ll be in touch.”

Alison stormed off. If she’d stayed even a second longer she would have punched her. She would have taken a swing and then pelted her with stale muffins and _sweet’n low_. She was shaking when she left the coffee shop. She couldn’t get over the fact that Dana had infiltrated her life like that. She grabbed her phone and sent a text to Emily.

_“I really need to talk to you. I need to hear your voice, Em.”_

And she needed to know that Dana wasn’t right, that they weren’t stuck in a rut…that they were going to be okay.

She tried Mona next, but wasn’t surprised when she didn’t get an answer. Knowing Mona she was probably off on an exploration of the entire Hotchkiss family.

Alison threw her phone in her bag and hustled to make it to her class on time. She was a few seconds shy of being late. The kids were already in their seats, doing various things, mostly on their laptops. Alison tried to put her problems aside and bury herself in teaching. She had a few more participants than normal, probably because they were starting to realize they couldn’t coast in her class, and they couldn’t afford to fail. She was barely mentally present for most of the discussions.

It was only when the class was over that she realized she was still shaking from her confrontation with Dana. She hadn’t felt that vulnerable in a long time. It used to be that it upset her. Now it just pissed her off.

“Mrs. DiLaurentis?” When she looked up she saw Dylan standing in front of her. He had a worried look on his face.

“Dylan. What can I do for you?”

“I had a couple of questions about my paper. I was wondering if I could make an appointment to come talk to you about it?”

“Sure.” Alison nodded.

“Does tomorrow work for you? Around ten?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey…is everything okay? You seem…distracted.” His lips narrowed in thought. “Is it about the investigation? I saw you and Dana Booker at the coffee shop this morning.”

“Uh…yeah, everything is fine.” Alison lied. “It was just routine questioning.”

“That woman is intense.” Dylan shook his head. “She was pressing me on my relationship with Andrew. And she did the same to Caitlin and Jeremy. Apparently her line of questioning with Ava was completely different though.”

“Different how?” Alison asked.

“You’d have to ask Ava. I know it involved her family though. Really hit a sore spot for her.”

“I didn’t see Ava in class today…”

“Yeah, she…isn’t feeling well.” Dylan looked at the ground. Alison had learned that his eyes cut away when he was trying to hide something. “I should get going or I’m going to be late for my next class. I can sleep when I’m dead, right?” He paused and then frowned. “That…came out wrong.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Alison waved it off. He started to turn around and walk out of the room, but Alison called after him, “Dylan?”

“Yeah?”

“The next time Dana Booker comes for you...for _any_ of you, let me know, okay? Her questioning techniques are borderline abusive. And I won’t have that for any of you.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” He nodded with a smile.

She watched him walk out of the classroom and then she grabbed her phone. Instead of calling Emily, she tried Pam. Maybe she could sic Emily’s mom on her to get her to return a damn phone call. Pam didn’t answer, so Alison just left her a message asking her to call her back.

She tried to go about her day not thinking about worst case scenarios. She was able to keep her mind occupied for most of the day, but she tossed and turned that night.

She really started to panic when she was unable to reach her wife the next day. She’d missed two storytimes and she still hadn’t heard anything from Emily. It left a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Emily would never keep the girls away from her.

Something felt wrong. She’d felt it in her gut all along, but she didn’t want to listen to it, because she thought they’d left the shady part of their lives in the past.

She jumped at the chance to meet with Mona that morning. She thought maybe Mona could work some hacker magic or figure out how to find out where Emily was. Or maybe she could work something up to protect Emily from Dana’s invasion. That woman made the other cops Alison had dealt with in her life look like _Barney Fife and friends._ She was completely worked up when she walked into Mona’s living room.

“This is too much.” Alison shook her head. “It’s all too much.”

“Wow, Dana really rattled your cage, didn’t she?” Mona asked.

“She _knew_ things about me, Mona!” Alison exclaimed, “About Emily and the girls. Everything that happened in Rosewood…”

“I wouldn’t be too worried. A quick google search could tell her all that.”

“She knew about Archer and what he did in _Welby_.”

That stopped Mona in her tracks.

“She knew about Lily and Grace. The _truth_ about them. She knew about things that…that _only_ happened between me and Em. And I can’t get ahold of Emily to warn her that this bitch might be trying to pull her down the rabbit hole with me again.”

“Emily was nowhere near Beacon Heights when Nolan was murdered. Dana has no jurisdiction. She’s just trying to shake you down.”

“All it’s doing is pissing me off.”

“Naturally.” Mona nodded. “That’s her endgame.” She glanced at the chessboard on the screen in front of her. Her online partner had made a move. “It’s strategy, Alison.”

“I need you to focus here, Mona. I need you to help me get in touch with Emily.”

“She’s _your_ wife. You have a better shot than I do.”

“She’s not answering my calls.”

“Maybe she’s busy.”

“For _two_ days?”

“Maybe Dana called her and she decided to play it safe and go tech free until the heat dies down.”

“That’s the opposite of what she’d do. If she knew about this she would have been on the first plane out here, and you know it.”

“I thought you wanted to keep her out of all of this.” Mona looked at Alison in confusion. She looked at the screen again. “This doesn’t make any sense.” She stared at the monitor.

“Hey, would you look at me for a minute, please? This is serious.”

“The patterns,” Mona muttered. “How did I not see this before?” She glanced at Alison. “The patterns are wrong...”

“Patterns...what patterns?”

Mona held her head up in concentration, her hands moving in front of her chest, like she was writing something in the air, mentally solving a math problem. Alison couldn’t believe her luck. Dana Booker was on her ass. Emily was MIA. And Mona had snapped.

“But if the moves were pre-made that would mean that the game was already set for this outcome.”

“Hey!” Alison exclaimed, bringing her hand up towards Mona’s face. She swung her open palm through the air and it made contact with Mona’s cheek. It wasn’t enough to hurt her, but it was enough to gain her attention. She looked at the shocked brunette apologetically. “I...I’m sorry. I need you, Mona.”

“Right.” Mona dropped her hand. “Of course. How long did you say it’s been since you talked to Emily?”

“Two days. Why?”

Mona looked back at the screen again.

“It can’t be a coincidence.” She tapped her foot impatiently.

“Mona, I can’t afford to waste time. If you’re spinning out, can you please just hurry it along?”

“It’s an I.P. address!” Mona exclaimed to herself, a wry smile forming on her face. “Oh, somebody is clever. Check and mate.”

“My wife is missing, and you’re playing chess?” Alison frowned.

“She’s missing in the same sense that you were missing back in high school. She’s out there. I assume she has a plan.”

“We don’t know that.”

“Yes, we do.” Mona looked up from the screen. “Ali, I think what’s happening here is connected to what’s going on with your family…”

“What?”

“I think Emily is trying to send me a message.” She walked over to her laptop and pulled a program up, running the moves of the online chess game she’d been playing. “I have this program that pairs me with online chess partners. I only have one regular partner. But a few days ago I got partnered with someone of a like mindset.”

“That’s…horrifying.” Alison shook her head.

“This person already knew my strategy. And the game felt so familiar, but the moves were so slow to happen, like it was programmed on a timer or something. But I felt like I was playing with someone I knew. I think it’s Emily.”

“Okay, you’ve completely lost it.”

“Here, I can show you.”

“Does Emily even _play_ chess?” Alison asked in surprise.

“We used to play…back in the dollhouse. We learned each other’s moves pretty quickly. I didn’t recognize the pattern at first. It’s been so long.”

“How did she even know how to find you?”

“You don’t give your wife enough credit.” Mona rolled her eyes. There was a ping on her computer. “And…there it is!” She pulled a site up.

It was dark at first, but then a pixelated video popped up. Emily’s face was the screenshot. Alison’s breath hitched in her throat. She reached over Mona and nearly broke the computer to hit the play button.

“Easy. It’s a computer, not my face.” Mona frowned.

Alison looked at her sheepishly.

The video started. The camera was close to Emily’s face. The background was black and vague. Emily glanced at the ground and then looked back up. She peered over the top of the camera and then looked directly into the lens.

“Hey, Ali, if you’re watching this, it means Mona figured out it was me,” she said. “You can always count on Mona to come through in the clutch.”

Alison glanced at Mona and saw a mixed look on her face. Pride. Confusion. Concern.

“I set the chess program up a while back with all of her credentials, knowing it would match her, as a way to reach her in case there was ever an emergency. I figured if I ever needed to reach her for something, this would be the best way. And now, knowing what I know about the security there, this was the best I could do. I wish I could have called you...just to see your face, to hear your voice...I wish I could be there with you...by your side...” She sighed. “That’s how this is supposed to go, us...together. Right?”

Alison’s knees felt like they were going to buckle at any minute. She gripped the table to keep from collapsing.

Emily glanced over the camera. Was she looking at someone? Was someone forcing her into this? Or was she in a rush to get through it because someone was after her? She looked at the camera again. She looked determined, but nervous. Alison had seen her wear that face many times before. She was trying to hold it together.

“The girls are safe. That’s all that matters.” She cut her eyes away for a second. Alison could see tears in her eyes and it took everything inside of her to keep herself from crying. Emily looked back into the camera. “Don’t look for me. It’s dangerous. Just…stay where you are.” She paused. “Keep doing what you’re doing. You and Mona, you’re an unstoppable force and you _are_ going to make a difference there.”

There seemed to be a hidden meaning in her words. She gave the camera a meaningful look. She looked strange. Like it was the last goodbye. Or…perhaps it was some kind of signal.

“I love you, Ali, more than any fight we’ve ever had. More than any distance between us.” She sighed and then smiled, “I love you so much that if there was an eternity, I’d love you there again. We’re going to be okay.” She took a shaky breath. “My first priority has always been you and the girls.” She had a look of determination on her face. “And I’ll never let anyone hurt you. I don’t care how far apart we are, I _will_ find a way to help you expose…”

The camera quickly cut out and the phrase _“signal lost”_ came across the screen in big red letters.

“Get it back!” Alison cried frantically. “Get it back!”

“I’m trying!” Mona struggled, typing furiously. “It’s…someone scrambled the signal…” She kept trying, but the site completely disappeared. “I…it’s gone.”

“What do you mean _it’s gone_?” Alison stared in disbelief.

“It’s like it never even existed. The server was destroyed. The code. The I.P. address. It’s _all_ gone. Someone wiped all traces of it.”

“Who? Who would do that?”

“Someone who doesn’t want us to know what she was trying to tell us.” Mona looked up. “I think Emily knows more about what’s going on in Beacon Heights than she led you to believe.”

“How could she possibly know anything? She’s been in Rosewood.”

They were supposed to be safe. They were supposed to be having normal lives.

“I don’t think she came looking for Beacon Heights. I think Beacon Heights came looking for her.” Mona frowned. “That video was recent. She may have set the program up to reach me, but I saw the coding on the message before it crashed. It was shot and uploaded this week.”

Alison stared at the blank screen that just moments ago had her wife’s face on it.

“Mona…” Alison said, her voice calm and eerily even, her fingers tightly gripping the table. She was fighting the urge to flip the entire piece of furniture over, “…we have to find out who is behind this.” She clenched her jaw in anger. “And when we do, I want your _word_ that you’ll help me _destroy_ them.”

Mona didn’t respond with words. Instead, she opted to put her hand on top of Alison’s, prying her fingers away from the desk. They glanced at one another, and Mona nodded in solidarity, a silent _I’m with_ _you._

Whoever was making her life a living hell was going to find out just how dangerous Alison DiLaurentis really was. She’d come to this town to become a better person. She’d come to help people. And she still planned on doing that, but she was going to do things _her_ way. Whatever forces were behind the dark and twisted secrecy of Beacon Heights were about to find out that the danger wasn’t the person who killed Nolan Hotchkiss. It was the person who was going to find out who did, come hell or high water.


	4. Hidden Messages

* * *

**Chapter 4:**

**Hidden Messages**

The first thing Alison did when she got control of herself was pull up the website for the airport to figure out when she could get the first flight out to Rosewood. It took Mona gently reminding her of Emily’s warning and reaffirming why it was a bad idea before Alison came back to her senses.

“She told you not to look for her.” Mona softly put her palm against Alison’s arm. “Besides, do you _really_ think she’s actually still in Rosewood? She’s smarter than that.”

“She wouldn’t just disappear. She…she doesn’t run.”

“What, you thought that was strictly _your_ thing?” Mona lifted her brow in intrigue.

Alison shot her a look so sharp that could have sliced through glass.

“Sorry. I just meant…” Mona stopped. She wasn’t sure _what_ she meant. “We don’t know what was running through her mind.”

“She looked terrified.” Or heartbroken. Or maybe both. “This is all wrong.” Alison shook her head. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. This was supposed to be our fresh start.” She clenched her jaw, her bright blue eyes glistening with tears. “What if she’s hurt?”

“Look, if it’s one thing I know about Emily Fields it’s that she’s resilient.” Mona tried to comfort her. “All those years of torture weren’t for naught. She knows how to take care of herself. She’s a shark.”

“People kill sharks all the time.”

“You are _not_ making it easy to paint this in anything but darkness.” Mona muttered. “You heard what she said. She _told_ us what we needed to do. We’re on the right track here with the murder. The sooner we can figure that out the sooner we can figure out what’s going on with her.”

“We should call the cops.” Alison nervously handled her phone. 

Mona stopped her.

“And tell them  _what_? We have nothing to give them. Besides, do you  _really_ trust the cops?”

“Start a new chess game with her.” Alison insisted. “You can…she reached you that way. You can reverse that process…”

“Even if I wanted to, which I can’t, because it was automated…it’s too dangerous now. She’s been exposed to Beacon Guard. They’ll be looking for me to do that. And if they think that Emily knows _anything_ we could put her in more jeopardy. Your girls, too. I’m sure Emily took every precaution to make sure they’re okay, but that doesn’t mean whoever is doing this won’t go sniffing around to find them.”

“Right.” Alison nodded. She knew she had to keep it together. If not for herself, for her family. She glanced at the screen, feeling a cold sweat building up on the back of her neck.

“She’ll be fine, Alison,” Mona said. “Look, she survived me. She survived your sister. She survived Alex and Mary…”

Mona flinched, and Alison caught it.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Mona brushed it off. “Just…flashbacks.”

But there seemed to be more to it. Alison opened her mouth to reply, but then caught a glimpse of the time.

“Crap, is that the right time?”

“Of course. What, do you think I have it set to European time or…”

“I’m supposed to be meeting Dylan in twenty minutes about his paper.”

“Dylan.” Mona nodded, thinking quietly to herself.

Alison saw a weird glint in her eyes.

“Mona, you’re not going to that place in your head again, are you? The place that I have to slap you to bring you out of?”

“I thought slapping was just how you showed love.”

“Just to Em…” She caught herself, but Mona was delighted with her slip.

“Kinky. I always knew you two were spicy…” Mona lifted her brows and teased her.

“Let’s just focus on the kids in this town.”

“Alison DiLaurentis, what do you take me for? A cradle robber?”

Not what she meant, but if Mona wanted to play, Alison had come to the battle of wits prepared…

“Well, Mike _was_ younger than you…” Alison trailed off.

“I really should call him.” Mona nodded to herself.

“I need you to focus. You were saying something about Dylan?”

“Right,” Mona replied. “Did anything about that video sound off to you? Like something Emily might not say if it was just the two of you talking?”

“What do you mean?”

“There was something about…loving you until eternity and all that other sappy bullshit? I mean, you two are nauseatingly loving, but that seemed a bit too sweet even for you ladies. Was that part of your vows or something?”

“No.” Alison shook her head. “But it felt like something…like she might have been saying…” She swallowed. “Like she was afraid we’d never see one another again.”

“ _Or_ …” Mona typed something in her screen. “She was saying something _else_.” She pulled up a site. “It’s a Bob Dylan lyric.”

“What?” Alison asked in confusion.

“I’m guessing by your reaction that Emily isn’t a Dylan fan?”

“Not that I know of.” She shook her head.

“She’s speaking in code, Ali. Just like she sought me out in code.” Mona curled her lips up. “It’s impressive, I’ll give her that.”

“You are a freak and insanely brilliant and…so annoying.” Alison stared at the screen.

“Thank you.” Mona smiled. “Looks like our quest for answers starts with the very student you’re on your way to meet. How very fortunate for us.”

“How does she even know about Dylan?”

“How did she know about _any_ of this?” Mona shrugged. “Something happened between the time you left and now. She found something out. Something that the powers that be _obviously_ don’t want getting out.”

“Do you think she was trying to say he’s safe to talk to…or that he could be the one behind all of this?”

“Only one way to find out.” Mona pointed to the clock.

Alison nodded. She glanced at her phone, the screenshot of her family. It gave her more incentive. She quickly made her way across campus to meet up with Dylan. She had a hard time believing that the soft-spoken kid from her class had anything to do with what happened to Nolan or anything that had happened to her wife. Still, she couldn’t be too cautious. When she got to the office she used an app that Mona had designed to hack into the cameras and disable them. According to Mona, it was a temporary short circuit that didn’t alert the security system. She only had a short window though, so she was going to have to be smart about the conversation.

“Mrs. DiLaurentis?” He knocked on the door lightly before entering, so as not to startle her.

“Dylan, come in.” She waved him into her office. She shared the space with two other instructors who were fortunately in their classes at the moment.

“Hey, thanks for meeting me.” He walked over to her desk. He took a seat in front of her.

“You said you had some questions about your paper?” Alison questioned.

“Uh yeah,” he said. He rubbed his brow, like he was a tired child who had missed naptime. It was clear he wasn’t sleeping. Alison saw that in a lot of her students. “I don’t understand what I did wrong.”

“What do you mean? You didn’t do anything wrong. It was a very well thought out paper. I just saw some room for improvement.”

He glanced at the “B” on his paper.

“I didn’t think there were any wrong opinions in self-reflections.”

“Well, that was only a portion of the grade. I mentioned it explicitly in the syllabus. The reflections I ask everyone to write are two-tiered. I’m looking for more than just likes and dislikes. This isn’t social media here.” She laughed, trying to establish some kind of connection with him, so hopefully he’d open up to her about more than just his paper. Her wife’s life was on the line and she had to play this just right. “It’s Advanced English Lit. I was hoping to see more of an analysis. _And Then There Were None_ is a very complex novel with several themes to choose from. Guilt. Justice. Secrecy and Deceit.” She paused, watching his expressions carefully. “Any that you relate to, really. I feel as though you could explore that a little more.”

“I…” Dylan looked confused. He tapped his feet impatiently. “I missed that part. I’ve just been under so much pressure…with my music and the whole thing with Nolan…” he trailed off, suddenly clamming up as if he had said too much.

“Look, Dylan, I know how hard it is to juggle too many things at once. But something I’ve learned is that if you push yourself to the breaking point, you’re only going to end up hurting yourself.”

“Mrs. DiLaurentis, I can’t afford anything less than perfection. I _really_ need an A on this paper. Would you…do you mind taking another look? Please?”

Alison thought it over.

“Tell you what, let’s decide on a theme today and then I’ll give you an extension on the assignment to give you time to rework it into something that could potentially bring that grade up.”

“You’d do that for me?” For the first time since he’d walked in he made direct eye contact with her.

He had soft eyes. Eyes like Emily’s. He seemed so kind and trustworthy. But why was Emily pointing her and Mona in his direction? Was he truly trustworthy? Or was it all an act? Mona had mentioned that with the cameras, everyone in town was constantly competing for their shot at an Emmy for best performance. And in Beacon Heights, some kids were putting on the performance of a lifetime.

“Of course.” Alison nodded. “I want to see all of my students succeed. So…” She tapped her pen against the desk. “What theme will you be discussing?”

Dylan thought about it. Most kids would have just picked the easiest sounding one, but he actually had an analytical thought process. He seemed conflicted, like the choice was personal.

“I’m torn between Guilt and Secrecy or Deceit.” He admitted. “Which one do you like better?”

“It’s your choice.” Alison really wanted to see what he would pick. It would give her insight into what was going on in his mind.

“They’re both just such strong elements in the story. And one tends to lead to the other. People do duplicitous things when they feel guilty about something. Some of the characters had that problem and it’s eventually what led to their downfall.”

“I think you have your starting argument.” Alison smiled encouragingly.

“Yeah, thanks.” He nodded, moving to stand up. “I’ll get started on it.”

Alison glanced at the camera.

“Hey, Dylan, before you go, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” But he sounded uncertain.

“It’s about Nolan.”

He looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. How could a grown man look like such a small child?

“You said that you, Ava, and Caitlin were all together the night he was killed, right?”

He glanced at the security system.

“Don’t worry about that. It’s just you and me here. And I need you to be honest with me. There are lives at stake here…”

He seemed rattled.

“Whose?”

“It doesn’t matter. I just need you to trust me. I think Dana Booker is on the wrong track, but that woman is beyond listening to reason. And I want to help you and your friends. I really do.” They reminded her so much of her own friends back home. “But I need complete transparency. Were you really together?”

“Uh, yeah…yeah, we were together.”

“The _whole_ night?”

He looked uncertain. He peered at the cameras again.

“Um…are you sure it’s safe to talk about this here?”

“Yeah, for about…” She looked at the clock. “Three more minutes. So, you three were together all night?”

“I mean, for the most part. We split when we were heading for our dorms right before Nolan…” His face scrunched up. Alison recognized the expression. He was in pain. Perhaps he didn’t hate Nolan as much as she’d assumed. “Caitlin and I were walking in the same direction. Ava’s place is on the opposite side of campus. Caitlin and I stopped to grab a coffee. That girl thrives on coffee. Pretty sure her blood has been replaced with espresso.”

“Yeah.” Alison smiled. “I have a friend like that.”

“We had just left when we saw the cops flying down the road. Caitlin went ahead of me. I was right behind her though.”

“And where was Ava?”

“Halfway back to her dorm. She heard the sirens and came back.”

“What were you three doing out so late?”

“Is this an interrogation?” Dylan laughed nervously. “Because it certainly feels like one.”

“No, I’m no Dana Booker. I promise you that. I just need to know all the facts.”

“We were talking about class, actually.” Dylan admitted. “We were…” He stopped, considering if he wanted to open up to a woman he hardly knew, “…we were all kind of pissed at Nolan for various reasons. But I mean, that’s a typical day for us. We were just out, walking a trail talking about what you’d mentioned in class…the whole ‘eye for an eye’ thing.”

“The _‘is it okay to murder a murderer’_ debate?”

“Yeah. I know that sounds bad.” He cringed. “But we didn’t…” He chewed on his lip. “We never would have actually done anything to hurt him.”

“From what I recall in class you had a fairly diplomatic view on the topic of justice. Caitlin was straightforward in her answer. If it meant protecting someone she loved, she said she would.”

“Wouldn’t we all?” His question was loaded, and she knew it.

He had a look on his face that clearly indicated he knew more about her than she was letting on. She hadn’t been open about her past. In fact, she’d worked hard to keep it hidden. But one thing she knew for certain is that secrets had a way of coming out. Especially in the digital age.

“So, you googled me.” Alison nodded in realization.

He shook his head.

“Didn’t have to. I remembered hearing about it when I was in middle school. It was like…national news. Not every day a dead girl comes back to life. And all that stuff with your friends being kidnapped? How do you move on from something like that?”

“You don’t,” Alison said. “I mean, you do, but it’s not so much ‘moving on’ as it is learning to live with it. It just becomes a part of you.”

“Like Nolan’s death is a part of me,” he said quietly. Something changed in his body language and he quickly added, “… _us_ …”

But Alison caught it. That one loving glance. It’s the same puppy dog expression Emily had given her when they were younger. Alison flinched. She didn’t like to think about that time in their lives. Because she’d used and manipulated Emily. She’d cut her deeply, because she’d played with her feelings. It had taken a lot for them to move past that. But Alison still felt guilty about it.

“You cared about him.” Alison realized.

“What?” Dylan was caught off-guard. “I mean…he was my friend, but…”

“Was he manipulating you? Using your feelings for him against you? Dylan, did he have something over you?”

Dylan hesitated.

“It wasn’t like that.” He ran his fingers through his hair nervously and glanced at the ground. After a few seconds he sighed. “You can’t tell anyone. If people found out they’d think that I…” He frowned. “I would never.”

She thought she saw tears in his eyes, but he looked away.

“Nolan could be a real jackass. But it was all an act. There was a time when he really acted like he cared...about me. It was really stupid of me. And really short-sighted, because I was with Andrew at the time.”

 _That’s_ what Nolan was holding over his head. He’d cheated on his boyfriend.

“I had to make a choice. And…I chose Andrew. Because I can just be myself with him. With Nolan…he just wanted it between us. He knew his mother wouldn’t approve. Not because of me being a guy, but because she has certain…standards. I don’t meet them. I don’t come from an affluent family. I’m not special. And I just couldn’t hide it. I spent way too many years in the closet back home. It took a lot for me to come out. I didn’t want to go back to that life.”

“Do you think he was sincere?” Alison questioned.

“He was. I know he was.” Dylan nodded. “But he was also a huge player.” He thought about it for a moment. “ _Was_. God, that’s still so weird…talking about him in the past tense.”

“Was he in love with Ava?”

Dylan stared at her, like he didn’t feel like he could answer without Ava’s approval. He didn’t want to speak for her, which was noble of him. He was a loyal friend. Alison took note of that.

“I think he was. He was different with her. Softer.”

“Why hide behind a fake relationship with Caitlin if he was with Ava?”

“Because Caitlin and Nolan were _expected_. They both come from high class prominent families. But neither one of them was really invested in their relationship. It was for show. She wanted to be with Jeremy. He wanted to be with Ava.”

“Right before he was killed Ava started acting out in class. Any idea why?”

Dylan shifted in his seat, glancing towards the door.

“You should talk to Ava about this.”

“Dylan, I really need to know this if I’m going to help you.” Alison tried to keep him on the line. She’d reeled him in. She just needed to keep him.

He sighed.

“I’m probably an idiot for trusting you.” His expression tensed.

“Nolan cheated on her, didn’t he?” She’d been able to put it together herself. She’d seen Ava’s reckless behavior, and she knew about the playboy reputation that Nolan had.

“I don’t know that that’s the full story. Nolan never did anything without a plan.”

Alison related to that.

“Do you think Ava and Caitlin would be willing to talk to me about this?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I can check in with them and find out though,” Dylan said. “Caitlin wants to trust you, but Ava is still on the fence. She has trust issues…”

“Because of her parents.” Alison understood.

She didn’t know _exactly_ what Ava was going through, but she certainly understood a combative and shitty home life. She understood being used and being lied to. She understood the pain it inflicted when parents abandoned their children. It was something she had a complex about. She’d been so worried that Lily and Grace would think she was abandoning them. She still worried about that.

Dylan’s phone jingled. He glanced at the screen.

“I’ve got to go.” He stood up. “This conversation _was_ just between us, right? I mean, I’ll talk to Caitlin and Ava, but I don’t want them to think I’m turning on them or anything. And Ava doesn’t know about me and Nolan. It would crush her. She really loved him.”

“I get that.” Alison replied. She watched him walk out, calling after him, “Dylan?”

He turned around.

“Do you trust them?”

“Yeah.” He nodded.

“That’s all that matters then. Lean on each other.”

“Why are you helping us?”

“Because I know what it feels like to be guilty until proven innocent. It can feel like the whole world is against you when everyone has already made up their minds about you. I promise you, I’m an ally.”

Dylan thanked her and walked out of the office. Alison took a moment to try and digest all the new information. She really didn’t think any of them had anything to do with Nolan’s death, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Emily’s message. Why would she single out Dylan specifically? She tapped on her phone, pulling up her photos and videos. Emily had been sending her daily pictures of her and the girls. Her heart had been empty without them the past few days. She cursed herself for not realizing that something was wrong sooner. How long had Emily been gone? Where were their children? Was Emily okay?

It terrified her to think that something might have happened to her. It was the not knowing that was the hardest part. Emily had seemed pretty adamant that she stay in Beacon Heights, but Alison felt torn between two worlds. She wanted to hold her wife again. She wanted Emily to tell her everything was going to be okay. She stared at a photo of Emily snuggling Grace, burying her nose into the toddler’s neck. She could practically hear the giggles emitting from the picture. She scrolled to a video that had been taken earlier in the week. She hit the ‘play’ button.

The video on the other end of the phone was shaky for a few seconds, but then the camera flipped around to show Emily holding the camera out above her, aiming it at her and the twins. The girls were messy. Grace had smudges of something dark outlining her lips. The girls both had dusts of white powder all over them, including in their hair. Grace’s hair was up in a messy bun. Lily had on a chef’s hat that was too big for her. They were wearing matching aprons, which were covered in stains. Both girls had a smudge of flour on their noses. Emily was sporting the same blotch of powder on her nose. They’d clearly been baking. It was one of their favorite things to do. They’d loved it ever since they’d made Christmas cookies a year and a half ago.

“Say _‘hi mommy’_.” Emily pointed to the camera.

Lily and Grace looked at the camera.

“Hi, mommy!” They exclaimed in unison. They held their hands out to show Alison their fingers, which were sticky and stained.

“As you can see, we’ve had _quite_ the morning. I don’t know if you know this, but we have two professional chefs here…”

“We made chocolate chip pancakes, mommy!” Lily exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Lily spilled!” Grace tattled.

“I did not!” Lily furrowed her tiny brow. She looked like Emily when she was angry. “Grace ate my chocolate.”

“Nuh uh!” Though, clearly the chocolate stains around her mouth proved Lily’s statement. “It wasn’t me. Someone else did it. Oh, and guess what? Lily likes someone at preschool!”

Lily shook her head with a laugh and pushed Grace playfully. Grace danced around in her seat, proud of herself. Lily grabbed her sister’s face and playfully wagged her finger like she was scolding her. She moved in to kiss her cheek, but licked it instead, eliciting a _“EW, LILY!”_ from Grace. She picked up what looked like a syrupy mashed pancake and threw it at Lily’s face. They both giggled. Lily picked up the destroyed pancake and ate it.

Alison laughed with tears in her eyes. Her emotions flowed through her like water gushing through a broken dam. These were the moments she was missing in her children’s lives. She let that sink in.

“Okay, girls, it’s time to wash up. Mama’s got to go to work. Tell mommy bye bye.”

“Bye, mommy.” Grace waved.

“We love you.”

“Can you come home soon?”

“Yeah. We can make you pancakes!” Lily leaned towards the camera and loudly whispered. “I won’t let Grace eat all your chocolate.”

Emily tickled her playfully and she squealed and laughed. She turned the camera towards herself.

“Love you, babe.” Emily smiled. “Call you later.” She moved the camera around, giving Alison a quick view of their absolutely wrecked kitchen that Emily would be cleaning up later.

“Mama, I miss mommy.” She heard Grace whine.

“I know sweetie. I know she misses you, too. We’ll talk to her soon and maybe even…Lily, put that knife down!”

The camera cut off. Alison wiped the tears from her eyes and rubbed her face in frustration. She knew she had no right to be angry, especially given that this was her choice. But she was mad. She was mad that she wasn’t there for them. All she wanted to do was to provide for her family. There was no other school that was offering the same amenities that Beacon Heights was offering. She was so certain they’d be okay. She never would have left Rosewood if she knew then what she knew now.

Her day declined from there. She could barely concentrate in class. She was anxious and confused and angry. And worried.

 _So_ worried. But she had no idea what to do.

That evening when she got back home…

… _screw_ home. This wasn’t her home. It would never be her home. Her home was with her wife and her children. This place was only a stepping stone that she’d initially thought was just a small step that would lift her up, but it turned out to be shady and slick and covered in moss and tripped her, knocking her on her ass.

She was so worked up that all she could do was pace around the house. She poured herself a glass of wine to try and settle down, but all it did was make her want to drunk dial her wife, which she _couldn’t_ do.

She looked up at the photos she’d put up her first night in town. The first one she’d pulled out of her moving boxes was a family photo. In it, she was snuggling Lily and Emily had Grace, kissing her forehead. The picture… _all_ of the pictures had made the house feel less cold.

That first night had been the hardest. She’d fidgeted on the entire flight out and she’d been anxious when she landed. The way she and Emily had left things had been a bit shaky. And she didn’t like feeling incomplete. That’s how she felt without her family. Incomplete.

She’d called Emily while she was waiting on the cab. Emily’s phone rang for so long that Alison was sure it would go to voicemail, but at the last minute she heard a click and a gust of air.

_“Ali?”_

_“Hey,”_ she’d sighed into the phone.

Emily had been lying in bed, halfway between awake and asleep. Her body was beyond tired. Keeping up with the twins was proving to be a feat for her. But her mind was constantly whirring at speeds out of her control. Her body wanted to sleep, but her mind wouldn’t let her.

 _“Hey.”_ Emily replied, rolling over on to her side. It had been a long time since she’d been in the bed without her. _“Was the flight okay?”_

 _“Yeah, I’m waiting on a cab to take me to the house.”_ She’d paused. _“How are they?”_

_“You want the truth or do you want me to lie to you?”_

_“Lying has brought us nothing but misery.”_

Though she knew it was going to hurt. She hated being away from her family. And the girls were too little to understand.

_“Lily refused to eat dinner and Grace threw the salt shaker at my head. Then Lily got upset and threw her carrots at Grace. The kitchen looks like a disaster. I’ve basically been dealing with World War three here.”_

Alison let out an unexpected laugh. She could only imagine her wild children using their kitchen as a battlefield.

_“Can I say goodnight to them?”_

Emily blinked, looking at the clock.

_“Ali, it’s 1 AM here. They’ve been asleep for hours.”_

_“Right. The time difference.”_ That was going to take some getting used to.

There was a beat of silence. Alison furrowed her brow and rubbed her forehead.

 _“I miss them.”_ It was too quiet without them around. She’d paused and then sighed, _“I miss YOU.”_

 _“I know. But this is…”_ Emily stopped, trying to choose her words carefully. _“It’s what we need right now, Alison. I know it’s not easy. But you said yourself you needed to figure some things out. And I support you in that. We’ll be here when you come home.”_

_“I’m doing this for you and the girls, you know.”_

_“I know.”_

Alison heard the sound of tires against pavement. A cab with squeaky brakes rounded the corner.

_“My cab is here. I should go.”_

_“Text me when you get there so I know you got there safe.”_

_“I will.”_ There was a beat and then she’d added softly, _“Em?”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“I love you.”_

_“I love you, too.”_

That night felt like a lifetime ago. She felt like this town had aged her beyond her years, and it hadn’t even been a month since she’d been gone. She knew that taking classes _and_ teaching was going to take a lot out of her, but she didn’t realize she’d be involved in a homicide, too.

 _Did I neglect my family?_ She thought to herself. _Is that why this is happening? Did I take it for granted? Did I tell them I loved them enough?_

Had she said it enough?

More importantly, would she get the chance to say it again?

She played around on her phone, opening the camera feature. She hit record and started a video,

“Hey, Em. You’ve been gone for…” She crinkled her brow in thought. “I don’t really know…cuz I’m a shitty wife.” She puffed her lips out drunkenly. She could see the flush in her cheeks from the alcohol. “I wish you were here with me. I wish we could talk…”

She wanted to do more than talk. She needed her in ways that she didn’t realize she would miss so much. Long distance relationships were hard for a lot of reasons. But when her libido started acting up she thought of everything, _everything_ , she was missing in Rosewood. And not just the sex. The intimacy. The warmth of the person who loved her the most. Holding each other. Being together. The little things.

“That video you sent...it has me really scared, Em. I keep telling myself that you haven’t gone and done something stupid _for me_. I know you, and I know the lengths you’d go to...” She rubbed her eyes. “You’ve always protected me.” She thought about it. “It’s really annoying. You don’t have to go out of your way or try to get yourself killed to prove that you love me, you know.” She sighed. “I really miss you. I’m sorry we fought. I’m sorry…” She swallowed hard. “I’m sorry for everything. I just want this to be okay. I just want you to be okay. Please…be okay, Emily.” She blinked back tears. “I came out here to prove something to myself. But I don’t even know what that is anymore. I know I haven’t told you lately, but…I need you. I love you and I need you. And I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like I didn’t.”

She peered up at the ceiling, trying not to start drunkenly blubbering. She took a few seconds to compose herself and then continued,

“I don’t know what happened or where you are…if you’re hurt…or in trouble. I don’t know.” She wiped her eyes. “I’ll find you, Em. I promise. I’ll figure this out. I won’t let you down.” She stared at her reflection looking back at her. “I love you.”

She hit the little square on her screen to stop the recording. She reached over and grabbed her wine glass again. She stared at the liquid in her cup and then looked at her phone. Her eyes slowly trailed towards the security system in the house.

“Safest town in America, my ass,” Alison muttered and took a sip of her wine.

She stood up and walked over to the mantle to stare longingly at her family, because that’s all she had now. Drunken longing stares. She looked at the newly painted wall. Behind it she could still see the remnants of the message someone had scribbled on the wall,

_“THEY’RE WATCHING”_

Alison uttered in frustration. Nothing about this stupid town made any sense. And she’d been in messed up towns before. Not even Ravenswood had been this horrible. She swirled around and kicked the wall, like that was going to make her feel any better.

She heard the vent in the corner rattling. The noise made a strange echo. Alison peered down in curiousity. She used her palm to hit the wall right above the vent and heard the noise again. Something occurred to her. The way the corners of the house were designed, this one in particular was a blind spot for the security system.

She disappeared to grab a screwdriver. She moved into the little nook and crawled on her hands and knees. She carefully unscrewed the vent cover and pulled it out. She knew it was a long shot, but she remembered all too well how she’d once had her own secret stash to keep things hidden. She reached up into the air duct, her fingers hitting something hard when she was nearly elbow deep in it.

She felt around until she found something that felt like a latch. She fiddled with it for a few seconds and then something came loose. She pulled down a small flat box the size of a manila envelope. She opened it up and found a bound book of notes, clippings, photos, and more. She started flipping through the contents and found several correspondences between two parties that were written in some kind of code.

She flipped a note over and found a date and a time scribbled in one handwritten scrawl. Below that there was a different kind of handwriting.

Two words.

_“NOT SAFE!”_

Alison tried to remember why the date seemed so familiar. She stared at the handwriting. Something about the date clicked. Then she remembered.

It was the date of Taylor’s alleged suicide.

She stood up and walked over to a desk that the house had been furnished with when she got there. Claire had told her that any of the paperwork she might need for repairs were in the top drawer. She opened the drawer and pulled out a file, searching until she found the document she was looking for.

She found the deed to the house, which was signed by two people.

Claire and Taylor.

She sat back down by the vent, grabbing the binder that had all the clippings in it. She compared the handwriting in the notes she’d found in the vent to Taylor’s signature and it was a match. The person who’d written _“Not safe”_ was the same person who had written _“They’re watching”._

Taylor Hotchkiss.

“What were you so afraid of, Taylor?” She uttered, sorting through the papers.

And who was she talking to?

She delved deeper into the clippings that Taylor had put together. Some of it was hard to make sense of. Some of it was scribbled in code, which she and Mona were going to have to go through together to try and figure out. Then she got to a stack of things that made her blood run cold.

There were shreds of notes that she’d kept. Things she’d jotted down to herself. Alison saw several mentions of Rosewood. She saw her name. She found a newspaper clipping from the day she’d disappeared, along with a photo of her and Emily.

Then she saw Emily’s name in Taylor’s handwriting. Her hands started to shake. Had Taylor been researching her family? Why?

It wasn’t a coincidence that she was here. She thought about how that e-mail inviting her to campus had seemingly come from nowhere. Now that she knew what she knew about the technology in this town she was convinced someone had lured her here.

The question was…had whoever done it planned on Nolan being killed? Or was that just a smokescreen? Was it just a distraction from something bigger? Something worse? Was that why Emily ran?

Alison pulled an envelope out of the paper pile. It was a little worn. She pulled out two slips of paper. One was a confirmation number for a flight from Oregon to New York dated last year.

She saw what was on the second slip of paper and she gasped and dropped the binder. It was a bus ticket to Rosewood dated around the same time.

“What the hell?” Alison felt her stomach tensing up.

Alison scrambled to her feet and rushed to grab her phone. She sent Mona an S.O.S, or _their_ version of an S.O.S: _Checkmate_.

She stared at the open vent and all the notes she’d found, unsure of whether to put them back or hide them somewhere else. After debating to herself she decided to put it back. It had been there undisturbed even through the renovations after Taylor’s disappearance.

She dug through one of her boxes until she found an old Polaroid camera she’d brought with her. Before she’d left, Aria had given it to her. She’d told her she wanted real _authentic_ photos of the beautiful scenery in Oregon.

“Thank you, Aria,” she muttered to herself.

She laid the new evidence out against the floor, snapping shots of the important stuff. Then she put everything back where she’d found it and put the vent back in place. She put the camera up and took the snapshots and put them in a sealed folder in her purse, which she never let out of her sight.

She sat down on the sofa, her heart racing at the new information that had come to light. She glanced at her phone again and all she could think about were Taylor’s warnings. Were they simply the ramblings of a madwoman? Or did she know something that other people in town were clueless to?

She stared at the video she’d made for Emily. Her finger hovered over the options for the file. After a few seconds she sighed and deleted the video. Who knows what kind of nutjobs were watching? Could they see her personal videos on her phone? It was enough to make her paranoid.

But she still had so much she wanted to say to her wife, and she couldn’t hold the feelings inside. So she sat down at her desk and she grabbed a pen and a piece of paper with her personal stationary on it. And she started writing. All the pain and anxiety that had been building up even before she’d come to Beacon Heights. All of the frustration and anger, and love and dedication. She wrote from the heart.

She wrote until the bones in her fingers hurt from clutching the pen so hard. She knew that one day Emily would be able to read what she was writing. When that day came she wanted her to know how much she loved her. And about how much she _thought_ about loving her.

She got so lost in thought that the writing started to consume her. It’s like time didn’t exist. What finally brought her back to reality was a knock at the door.

The noise startled her so much that she dropped the pen on the floor. She leaned down to pick it up. She slid her letter into a folder and put it in the desk. She walked to the door, expecting to find Mona answering her S.O.S.

“Finally,” Alison said as she opened the door. “I’ve been waiting…”

She found three pairs of eyes staring back at her. Caitlin and Dylan were standing on either side of Ava, propping her up. It was clear that she was completely wasted. She could barely stand on her own two feet.

“Hey, it’s another dead girl who came back to life.” Ava snorted drunkenly. “Think you could teach that trick to Nolan?”

“What are you guys doing here?” Alison asked.

“We need your help.” Caitlin glanced back, like they were being watched.

Alison nodded, but held her finger up to indicate that they give her a moment. She flipped some of the lights in the house off and then moved through the living room to temporarily disable the security system. Then she turned the lights back on and waved for them to come inside. She peered at the street to see if there were any prying eyes watching. She slowly closed the door, turning around to see Ava plopping down on the couch.

“Got any coffee?” Caitlin asked. “I’m worried that if we don’t sober her up the brain cells she has left are going to crash and burn.”

“Oh, please.” Ava rolled her eyes. “I know how to hold my liquor.”

“Ava, you took a swing at a mailbox.” Caitlin frowned at her.

“Mailbox started it,” Ava mumbled. She pulled her phone out. “I have to tell everyone. The public has the right to know the truth.”

“No.” Caitlin’s eyes went wide. “Hey, give me that.” She snatched Ava’s phone.

“Give that back!” Ava flung her arm in the air, reaching for her phone. She missed it by a very wide margin.

“No. Friends don’t let friends Vlog drunk.” Caitlin shoved Ava’s phone in her pocket. “Would you please talk some sense into her?” She looked at Dylan helplessly.

“Why do you think she’ll listen to me?”

“Excuse me. _She_ is sitting right here and can speak for herself.” Ava tried to stand up, but started toppling towards the end table before Dylan caught her and made her sit back down.

“What happened to her?” Alison looked at Dylan.

“She called us from a bar outside of town completely trashed. She apparently started a fight there.”

“I didn’t _start_ anything.” Ava disagreed. “But I sure as hell finished it.” She smiled.

“She could get in a _lot_ of trouble if the school finds out,” he explained.

“Then why did you idiots bring me back here?” Ava scoffed.

“She’s been saying all kinds of crazy stuff…”

“It’s true.” Ava growled argumentatively, interrupting Caitlin.

“Why me? Why now?” Alison asked.

“You said you wanted to talk.” Ava shrugged, her whole body moving with the motion. “Let’s talk.”

“And this couldn’t wait until a less conspicuous hour? The three of you coming here could raise a lot of red flags. I told you we needed to be careful…”

“I saw her.” Ava rubbed her face, pulling on her eyes. “She didn’t think I did, but I did.” She insisted. “It was the eyes. She has Nolan’s eyes.”

“Who…”

“Taylor.” Ava looked directly at Alison, her face frozen in a serious mask of haunted gravity. “I saw Taylor at that bar tonight. She’s alive. The bitch is _alive_.”


	5. Across the Universe

**A/N:** _*obligatory “Did you miss me?” comment here* No joke though, I know it’s been a little while. *tries to buy back your love with lengthy chapter*_

* * *

  **Chapter 5:**

**Across the Universe**

Alison stared at Ava for a good long two minutes, trying to determine if it truly was the booze talking or if she’d really seen Taylor Hotchkiss. She’d learned to never dismiss information, no matter how crazy it sounded. And now that Emily was missing there was a whole new element of danger and she couldn’t afford to not take everything into account.

“What do you mean she’s alive?”

“Walking. Breathing air. You have another definition of alive?” Ava asked sarcastically.

“Ava.” Dylan frowned at her disapprovingly.

“ _Dylan_.” She uttered his name back in the same tone.

“We came here for her help…”

“She can’t help us.” Ava lowered her pounding head. She pressed her fingers against her temples and muttered, “No one can. We’re living in a fishbowl. We have _no idea_ what’s really going on. We just stay here, mindlessly swimming in circles, people watching our every move…poking their fingers in at us and treating us like toys…”

Alison understood exactly how that felt.

“Ava…” Alison said, her tone soft. “I know after everything that’s happened you have trouble trusting people, especially those you don’t know…”

“I know who you are.” Ava looked up, staring right at Alison. “What you did when you were younger…”

It didn’t surprise Alison to hear it. Dylan had admitted it. Ava had even said something herself about Alison being another dead girl brought back to life.

“All the lies you told…” Ava’s voice sounded angry, but her eyes were full of pain. It was clear she was thinking about Nolan. “Who does something like that?”

“There is a lot that the news reports don’t say,” Alison explained. “There was a lot more to it than what the media shared. I’m willing to share if you’re willing to listen…”

“Why should we trust anything you say?” Ava asked.

It wasn’t an aggressive statement. It was a legitimate question. Ava was smart…smarter than she let on in class. She had more street wiles than anyone else on campus. Alison knew there was more to her than what could be seen on the surface. She wasn’t the least bit surprised that Ava was skeptical. Alison remembered being in her shoes and not knowing who to trust.

“For all we know, you helped Taylor play _Gone Girl 2.0_ …” Ava was waiting on Alison to talk.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Caitlin interjected. “We’ve all done terrible things in life. That doesn’t mean we should be judged on them for the rest of our lives.”

Alison peered at Caitlin curiously. What _terrible_ things was she referring to? From what Alison knew, the girl had a squeaky clean record. She’d been getting high marks in academia since she was in primary school. Her mothers had gotten her the best education money could buy. In addition to that she didn’t have one blemish on her disciplinary record. She didn’t even have a traffic ticket. All Alison could think about was what Nolan had said in class her first day.

_“They did terrible things, and they got terrible things done to them…”_

“Just tell me one thing.” Ava looked at Alison. “Why did you do it? And I want the truth. Not the bullshit you told the media, playing up the whole ‘woe is me, I was completely innocent’ act. Because I know there is more to it. I know people like you. I _was_ you when I was in high school.”

“Is that why you don’t trust me?”

“You answer my question first.”

Alison thought it over. Ava wasn’t wrong. She hadn’t been the kindest person in high school. At best she’d been a mean girl, at worst a conniving manipulative bully.

“What you heard in the news reports was true.” Alison nodded. “Someone was after me.”

“Yeah. Mona. We all heard the stories.” Dylan admitted.

“It’s…it’s more complicated than that,” Alison said. “I don’t want you judging her on her past actions any more than you judge me on mine.” She was perfectly clear. “What the news reports _don’t_ tell you is what a horrible person I was. I was…” She drifted off, “I wasn’t even the kind of person that a mother could love.”

Her mother had proven that when she’d covered up for Charlotte when she thought the older girl had killed Alison. Alison felt tears burning her eyes. She had a lot of unresolved feelings towards her mother. She’d never gotten the chance to ask her everything she wanted to know. Had she ever loved her? Did she love Charlotte more? Why? What had she done that was so horrible…so unforgivable?

“I pushed people. And I pushed them too hard. And when I started getting a taste of my own medicine I got scared…and vicious.” She thought it over. “There was only one person in my life who never gave up on me, even when I was at my worst.”

 _“When I was at my most lonely and unhappy and angry place, you loved me. And when I was an ugly human being, you saw a beautiful soul.”_ She’d told Emily during her impromptu proposal.

She could still remember the tears gleaming in Emily’s eyes and the way she’d sheepishly rolled her eyes in such a humble manner that it made Alison love her all that much more.

_“You make the world a better place because you see the good in it. And you make me a better woman because you searched for one.”_

She’d meant every heartfelt word. Of course, she hadn’t dreamed that she’d propose in a pug sweatshirt in the middle of a fight with her girlfriend, but she did.

Two weeks later she’d done her actual proposal the way she’d intended to…a picnic under the stars at the kissing rock, two old frayed friendship bracelets, and a handcrafted snowglobe with two mini-figurines molded into their likeness. In it, they were frozen in a wintry-wonderland kiss. Alison had gotten down on one knee, not caring that she was getting her pants a little muddy.

 _“May I?”_ she’d reached for the ring on Emily’s finger. _“I want to do this right this time.”_

Emily had nodded with a sweet smile on her face, the smile Alison had fallen in love with years ago.

Alison had stared at the ring and cleared her throat. She’d been way more nervous than she should have been, especially given that Emily had already said ‘yes’ to her once. She’d taken Emily’s hand and looked into her eyes.

_“I’ve loved you through life, through death, and much worse. The first time I met you I knew I was in love with you, even if I refused to admit it then. And the instant I thought I was dying, you were the last thought on my mind…how I’d never get to apologize for everything I’d done…to tell you that I loved you. And then, when I was on the run…the one thing that kept me going was you. I carried this picture of us with me everywhere I went. And I looked at it every night. It was only in losing you that I realized how I truly felt about you, and I never want to feel that way again.”_

She’d been shaking so hard that Emily had to gently cup her face to keep her focused. She always knew what to do. Alison didn’t even have to ask. Alison had reached up in turn and done the same, gently caressing her cheek.

_“I used to look up at the stars and wonder if I would ever make it home to you. I used to wonder if you were looking up at those same stars. There was this one star that I could always find…no matter where I was. I could pick it out of millions. In my mind, that star was you.”_

Emily was looking at her in sheer disbelief. Later she’d told Alison that she was just as nervous as Alison was, even though they’d both already said ‘yes’.

_“I love you because you remind me of those stars…you are beautiful and bright, and I know that even when the night is dark, you’ll always be there. And I want to be there for you, in every way...if you’ll have me.”_

It had been the most raw and real thing that Alison had ever said. She had gone into the proposal with the idea to speak from the heart, and it had turned into the most beautiful memory she’d ever had. Because she’d been with Emily.

Alison still thought about that every night. She still looked at the stars in Beacon Heights. And even though things were dark, she knew she was going to claw her way back into the light for Emily.

She knew that started with the truth.

So she told Ava, Caitlin, and Dylan everything. She told them how she’d bullied Mona. She told them about her mother burying her alive. She told them about her fear and anguish. She told them about the poor way she’d treated her friends…and how she’d turned on them again the second she felt vulnerable when she was back in town.

She told them about how she’d tried to control the narrative, because that’s all she knew _how_ to do. She told them about her mother. She told them about Charlotte. And finally, she told them about her love for Emily. She hadn’t told _anyone_ in town about what that woman meant to her…because she’d been trying to protect her family. But she knew she needed to be completely open with them. The only thing she skirted over was the truth about her babies, about Rollins. She wasn’t about to drag her children into it. They hung on her every word.

Ava listened with a curious expression on her face. She listened to Alison’s story, and something inside of her changed. After Alison had finished talking they were all speechless. It was Caitlin who spoke first.

“God, and I thought _this_ town was messed up.” Caitlin blinked in surprise.

“You should write a book.” Dylan shifted in the chair he was sitting in.

“Enough books have been written about me.” Alison scoffed.

Ava still hadn’t said anything. Alison faced her.

“Ava, I understand why it’s so hard for you to let your guard down. I do. But I am telling you, you _can_ trust me. I know what it’s like for parents to put you through hell and for society to judge you despite not knowing you.”

She’d made a vow to herself she would _never_ do anything that could damage her children the way she’d been damaged. She would protect her babies with her life. And she knew Emily would, too.

“I know what it’s like to be scrutinized and thrown into the limelight and twisted into a version of yourself that _you_ don’t even recognize.” She sighed. “I know what it’s like to grieve. I know what you’re going through here.”

Ava looked at Caitlin and then at Dylan.

“Well?” Dylan asked Ava.

Ava pursed her lips in thought, then she slowly nodded.

“I think I’ll take that coffee.” She looked at Caitlin. “I need to get my head on straight before I go into what happened tonight.”

Alison walked into the kitchen. Caitlin wasn’t far behind her.

“We’re not in class, Caitlin. You don’t have to participate if you don’t want to,” Alison said with a weak smile.

“I’m sorry. I’m not used to inaction.” Caitlin stopped in her tracks.

“You can relax. I was just giving you a hard time.” Alison pulled the coffee out.

Caitlin sighed, looking back towards the living room.

“I’ve never seen it this bad.”

“Has she had problems with drinking before?” Alison questioned curiously.

“She disappears into herself when she’s hurting. I don’t think she has a problem with it. I just think she uses it as an escape when things get to be too much for her.”

Alison understood that. She’d heard stories that when Emily was grieving her death she’d done the same thing.

“Does she usually throw punches at inanimate objects when she’s hammered?”

“She is definitely not afraid of being in a fight.”

“She doesn’t get blackout drunk, does she?” Alison asked as she filled up the coffeemaker.

“Look, I know what you’re thinking. And I know what it looks like. But as pissed as she was at Nolan, she never would have hurt him. She loved him.”

“I wasn’t insinuating…”

“You were trying to lead the witness.” Caitlin gave her a smirk that reminded her so much of a look that Spencer would get on her face when she was right about something.

“I would never ask you three to turn on each other. I know what it means to have friends that are with you in the difficult times. I trust that you all trust each other. I believe you. Otherwise I wouldn’t be helping you.”

“How did you even get roped into this?” Caitlin questioned.

“I’m still trying to figure that out,” Alison admitted.

Caitlin’s outer shell softened a bit.

“Dylan says someone might be in danger.” She stared at the coffeemaker, then looked at Alison. “It’s your wife, isn’t it?”

“You’re very smart, Caitlin.”

“I saw it in your eyes,” she admitted. “I don’t think you realize it, but you glanced at a picture of her when you were talking in there. You got this look in your eyes. It’s the same look I’ve seen my mom get in her eyes when my other mother goes to a big press event or steps on a plane. That look that tells people you love that you’re terrified they might not come home.” She could tell by Alison’s reaction that she was right. “What happened to her?”

“I don’t know. But I do know that whoever is trying to make you look guilty is trying to do the same to me.” She couldn’t stop thinking about that text from Nolan’s phone. “Did you see _anything_ that night? Anything out of the ordinary?”

She wanted to ask her to corroborate Dylan’s story, but she didn’t want to slip up and rat Dylan out. She had no idea if Dylan had told the girls about everything they’d talked about.

“No.” Caitlin sighed. “I wish I had. It’s driving me crazy.”

“You three were together, right?”

“You can drop the third degree. Dylan and I have talked. I know he told you we were getting coffee while Ava was on her way home.”

“You don’t have anything to worry about. I’m not going to say anything to anyone.”

“I know.” Caitlin nodded. “After everything I heard back there it’s clear you know what you’re doing. It takes a lot of courage to do what you did in there…being completely open like that. And I just wanted to let you know that we’re with you in this. At least, Dylan and I are. And Ava will come around. She’s just…she’s hurt right now. She can’t see that you’re trying to help us.”

Alison smiled appreciatively at the younger girl.

“How long have the three of you been friends?”

Caitlin frowned, a conflicted expression in her eyes. A flurry of mixed emotions washed across her face. Alison saw the sharp girl from her class slowly letting her guard of perfection down. She fractured before her very eyes.

“It’s complicated,” Caitlin said.

“I understand complicated.”

“Yeah, I get that now.” Caitlin glanced at her. “You know, when you were talking about how you assembled your friends based on certain merits…I really felt that. Me, Dylan, Ava…we weren’t exactly close before Nolan came along. For the longest time we were just his props. What really brought us together was his sister’s death. Things changed for Nolan after that. Things changed for all of us. He started acting…strange.”

“Strange how?”

“A lot of it was pressure from his mother. He felt like he was going to crack. And that’s not acceptable here. We’ve…we’ve all done things to hide our imperfections.”

“Is that what you meant when you said you’ve all done terrible things?” Alison asked.

Caitlin didn’t reply.

“Caitlin, what did you do?”

Caitlin sighed.

“It’s not what I did. It’s what my moms did for me. I screwed up last semester. It could have cost me my spot on the track team, my academic standing, and my entire ride here. They bailed me out. They could get in a lot of trouble for it if it surfaces.”

Alison looked at a picture of Lily and Grace she had on her refrigerator. It had been taken in their backyard garden. Grace was sitting on a little pink bench that Toby had made specially for them. Lily was behind her, her arms wrapped around Grace’s neck. She was kissing her cheek.

“Yeah, mothers will do _a lot_ for their children.” Alison nodded.

“I bet you really miss them.” Caitlin didn’t miss her sullen tone.

Alison sighed. She missed them more than words could say. She reached out and grabbed a mug and poured the freshly brewed coffee into it.

“How does Ava take her coffee?”

“She’ll take it however we give it to her,” Caitlin replied. She was clearly done coddling her friend for the night.

They walked back into the living room. Ava seemed calmer than she’d been when she’d first walked through the door. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the caffeine. She took a few sips.

They got her sobered up and she was able to elaborate more on what she’d seen at the bar.

“They had this old timey music machine in the corner where you can pay to pick your own music.”

“You mean a jukebox?” Alison lifted her brow curiously. The fact that these fresh-faced children didn’t know what a jukebox was made her feel ancient.

“Give me a break. I’m lucky I know the word ‘music’ right now.” Ava frowned. “I was tucked away behind it on this bar stool, hiding from this really sleazy guy who had been hitting on me all night. I saw the same guy hit on this girl across the room. And when she turned around to give him a piece of her mind I saw her face. It was Taylor. When she saw me her face blanched. She recognized me and she flipped out. She ran out without paying her tab. I tried to follow her, but these three slutty townies got in my way. I bumped into one of them and she acted like I’d killed her dog or something. It…escalated.”

“The bartender says you threw a pitcher of beer at them, called them bitchbaby barbies, and then went after them with a bar stool.” Caitlin called her out.

“He misheard then.” Ava shrugged unapologetically. “I called them bitchybaby barbies whose mouths were perfectly proportioned cocksocks and then told them to go back to their dayjob sucking strangers off.”

“Jesus, Ava.” Dylan’s face turned bright red.

Alison thought it was kind of cute how embarrassed he was for her.

“They shouldn’t have gotten in my face.” Ava sipped her coffee.

“You took on three girls by yourself?” Alison was impressed.

“We don’t all grow up in townhomes and houses with white picket fences. Before my parents…” She stopped herself and then quickly censored what she was about to say, “…before we came into our inheritance…I had to learn to scrap.”

“Did you see where this girl who looked like Taylor…”

“It _was_ Taylor.” Ava interrupted Alison.

The look in her eyes made Alison inclined to believe her.

“Did you see where she went?” Alison rephrased it.

“She’d already bolted by the time I was being… _escorted_ out.” Ava replied. “But I saw her in the parking lot. She got into a car with someone. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman because it was dark out, but whoever it was had dark hair and was wearing dark clothes.”

“Did you catch the make and model of the car?”

“It was black. But they flew out like hell on wheels before I could get a good look at it.” Her face twisted into a contorted ball of confusion. “I just don’t understand how someone could just destroy everyone around them. I know people are capable of a lot of horrible things, but who lies like that?”

Alison thought about the correspondences she had from Taylor and her mystery penpal. She thought of the tone of her notes and her paranoia and her terror. And she related. Because she’d been there.

“We don’t know what Taylor was going through…”

“Not Taylor,” Ava said. “Nolan.” She flinched when she said his name. “There’s no way he didn’t know his sister was alive.”

Suddenly Ava’s anger and her grief made sense. She wasn’t _just_ angry at Taylor. She felt betrayed by Nolan.

“I trusted him. I _loved_ him. All that time I thought he was in pain…”

“He was in a different kind of pain,” Dylan said softly. “Even if he _did_ know, imagine how it would feel to have to shoulder that kind of secret.”

“It didn’t have to be a secret. He could have told us.” Ava argued.

“Maybe he was trying to protect you,” Alison said.

Ava snorted and rolled her eyes.

“ _Protect_ us?” Ava looked shocked. “Please. Nolan only _ever_ looked out for Nolan. I was an idiot for not seeing it sooner.” Her expression morphed into pain. She felt used, just another notch in his bedpost.

“Just because he kept this a secret doesn’t mean he didn’t love you, Ava.” Dylan replied.

“If he loved me he wouldn’t have gotten himself killed and left me with the aftermath that is Dana fucking Booker. He had to know how it would look. All the secrets we have. He knew everything. And he kept proof of everything, so it would just be a matter of his little whispers falling into the wrong hands.” She frowned. “Dana knew things about me that _no one_ but Nolan knew.”

“What did she say to you when she questioned you?” Alison asked.

She thought Ava would fly off the handle and tell her to mind her own business. She definitely had a volatile temper. But Ava surprised her when she lowered her head and choked back tears.

“She’s threatening my parents.”

“What?” Caitlin’s eyes widened.

It was an intriguing development from Alison’s standpoint. That meant that her family wasn’t the only one at risk. Could it be that the person behind this was using their families as bargaining chips?

“My dad has a record. If the Feds find him he’ll go away for life. My mom always made sure I was taken care of when he split six years ago, but it’s starting to get dangerous for her, too.”

Alison stopped to consider the connection. She thought about it analytically. Since Nolan’s death, Emily and her girls had gone missing, Caitlin’s past discretions were threatening her parents, and Ava’s mom and dad were being scrutinized.

And then there was Dylan. Was he an outlier? Or was his family simply not of any interest? Or maybe he just played his cards close to his chest. The only thing she knew about his home life is that he was closeted for a while. She had been dying to talk to him again in private. _Why_ was Emily pointing them towards Dylan?

There was a knock at the door. It startled them. Alison glanced at them and put her finger up to her lips as she moved towards the door. She looked out the peephole. Her anxiety faded. She pulled the door open.

“You deliver Thai food now?” Alison glanced at Mona. Her eyes darted down to the food containers in her hand.

“Keeping up appearances.” Mona shrugged. “Plus, I thought you might be hungry. Figured we could chat over some Pad Thai. I got your message…” Mona walked in and saw the kids staring back at her. She looked at Alison. “You have a classroom in your living room.” She frowned. “ _Why_ do you have a classroom in your living room?”

“What is she doing here?” Ava looked at Mona, scrutinizing her.

Alison cursed the timing. She had _just_ gotten these kids to trust her. Someone had really done a number on them. She was trying to be as patient as possible with them, but she was starting to lose traction, because all she could think about was her family.

“She’s here to help.” Alison tried to keep the peace.

“Debatable.” Mona muttered under her breath. “Can I speak to you for a moment?” Mona grasped Alison’s arm.

Alison took the food from Mona and handed it to Caitlin.

“Would you mind putting this in the kitchen?”

“Sure.”

Alison and Mona walked down the hall into a room, out of earshot of the kids. Alison closed the door behind them.

“What the hell is going on?” Mona kept her voice low. “Are you insane? Do you know how this is going to look if…”

“No one is going to find out,” Alison interrupted her. “I took precautions.” She pointed to the disarmed Beacon Guard.

“If you keep doing that it’s going to raise a lot of suspicion.”

“I’m done playing by their rules. I want my family back.”

Mona’s face softened. She had an expression of sympathy in her eyes, but there was something deeper beneath the surface. What she’d found out tonight was liable to make Alison crumble.

“That’s actually part of the reason why I…”

“Someone in this town has been to Rosewood.” Alison cut her off.

“Uh…yeah. Us.” Mona wasn’t sure where she was going with her statement.

“No. I mean…” Alison frowned. “Come here.” She hauled her towards her office, where her purse was stashed out of view. She pulled out the photos she’d taken. “Taylor…or Nolan… _someone_ bought a ticket to Rosewood last year.”

“What?” Mona stared at the photos in disbelief.

Alison saw a range of emotions flicker in her eyes. She didn’t realize that Mona had information that was going to make all of the evidence look a lot more damning.

“Where did you find this?” Mona questioned.

“Taylor had a stash hidden.” Alison glanced towards the grate. “Have you talked to your mom lately?”

Mona looked at her like it was the most absurd thing she could have ever asked.

“What does my mom have to do with any of this?”

“Whatever is happening isn’t just about us anymore. Apparently someone wants everyone involved to pay the consequences of our past actions.”

Mona’s eyes flickered again, a knot forming in her stomach.

“That sounds suspiciously like _A_.”

“Is this really happening again? Are we _really_ back in Rosewood? Back on the hamster wheel?” Alison asked.

“I think you might be right.” Mona bit her lip. “Alison, it wasn’t a coincidence that you were recruited to this town. Someone _wanted_ you here. Someone in the Hotchkiss family sought you out specifically. I’m still not sure if it was Claire, Taylor, or Nolan. But your name was recommended to the board exclusively.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. But that’s not all…” Mona grimaced.

She had a passive expression on her face that Alison didn’t like. She looked torn. Heartbroken and afraid.

“What? What is it?” Alison questioned nervously. She couldn’t take any more surprises.

“I found something tonight when I was looking for information on Nolan and Taylor.” Her eyes were teeming with sympathy. It felt wrong to Alison. “I went looking for the place where Nolan’s text originated from. It took me to an old storage unit outside of town. The unit was completely wrecked. There was all kinds of smashed surveillance equipment there. Most of the drives had been removed or completely cleared, but I was able to accesses a few of the damaged files. One was Taylor talking to someone out of view. It was about a week before her supposed suicide.”

Alison looked at her photos again. Probably the person she’d been writing notes to. She needed to dig through her class assignments to see if she had a sample of Nolan’s handwriting. Because if it wasn’t him then they needed to find out who it was.

“The second file was a broken audio file. Claire was talking to someone on the phone. The only string of dialogue the soundbite had was her asking _“is it done?”_ and then there was a bit of corrupted audio that I couldn’t make out, but at the very end she said _“Keep it quiet. If this gets out...”_ and then it cut out.”

“Mona, that’s huge. You think she has something to do with this?”

“I’m going to dig through her phone records and see if I can find anything else out and if she’s guilty of anything we’ll nail it down, but Claire isn’t my main concern right now.”

“She could have the answers we need. What could be more important than figuring out her intentions?” Alison frowned in confusion.

“The last thing I found on that hard drive…” She flinched. “It was CCTV footage of Emily and your girls from your neighborhood dated a few weeks ago.”

Alison felt her heart drop.

“Someone has been _watching_ my family?”

“Look, you and I both know that someone who has gone to all that trouble isn’t just _watching_ anything. They were planning…” She sighed. “After I found that footage I tried to find something on the chess app that might give me an idea of where Emily was when that video was shot or where it was sent from. I was finally able to trace the digital signal to a cabin out at Lost Lake Resort over by Mount Hood. That’s where I’ve been all day. The place was trashed. I looked through some of the debris.” She pulled something out of her pocket and hesitated. “At first I didn’t think anything of it, but then I saw the inscription…” She held the object out to Alison.

Alison’s eyes welled up with tears. It was Emily’s engagement ring. She’d proudly worn it even after they’d gotten their wedding bands, because it had been a family heirloom. She’d only taken it off once to get it engraved.

“No. She…she’d never take this off.” Alison stared at the ring. “It’s…it has to be fake. She wouldn’t…” She flipped it over and frantically searched the band. The inscriptions were there. Not only Emily’s grandparent’s initials and Pam’s and Wayne’s initials, but _“EF and AD, Always”_.

She looked closer. There was a strange bronze stain on it. Alison felt her heart thumping in her chest. Was that blood? The room felt like it was spinning.

“It can’t be hers.” Alison shook her head. “Someone made it to mess with me.”

But Alison knew in her heart that it was Emily’s ring. She would recognize it anywhere. She’d never forget seeing it for the first time when Pam gave Alison her blessing to ask for Emily’s hand in marriage. She remembered the way she felt when she saw the ring. She remembered thinking that one day it would belong to their little girls. And she remembered slipping it on her finger at the kissing rock.

“Ali…” Mona’s tone was soft.

“It’s Claire. It has to be,” Alison said in a rage.

She felt like trekking out to Claire’s big stupid mansion with a canister of gasoline and torching the place. Burn the motherfucker to the ground like she was Sherman marching through Atlanta.

“We don’t have proof of that. She could have been talking about a number of things. It could have been about something Nolan did. He was always finding himself in some kind of trouble. She always swept it under the rug. If we confront her now we risk exposing our investigation. We risk Emily’s life.”

“We don’t even know that she _is_ alive!” Alison’s voice cracked. She motioned to the ring in between her fingers.

“Hey, calm down. We’re going to figure this out.”

“Who would do this?” Alison blinked back tears of anger and frustration. “Why Emily? And why now? Here? If someone wants us…why these kids? Why did they pull them into this? What do they have to do with this?”

“I wish I knew.”

Alison was silent for a few seconds. It was like her brain needed time to reboot. It suddenly dawned on her that her students were still in her living room. After Mona had pulled out Emily’s ring everything else in her life had disappeared into a black hole in her mind. She looked at Mona.

“Ava said she saw Taylor tonight.”

“What? Where?”

“A bar outside of town.”

There was a quiet knock at the door.

“Uh…Mrs. DiLaurentis?” It was Dylan. His voice was muffled. “Should we…do we need to go?”

Alison walked over to the door and pulled it open. She wasn’t sure what to say. The world felt like it was closing in on her.

“Um…Ava seems to be feeling better. And it’s getting late. We don’t want to overstay our welcome…”

“No. No one is leaving yet.” Alison shook her head. “We’re going back to that bar…”

“ _Tonight_?”

“It’s important.” Alison replied. It could mean the difference between life and death for her wife.

Dylan nodded in understanding.

“I’ll let Ava and Caitlin know.”

He walked around the corner. Alison turned to face Mona.

“I know what you’re going to say…”

She could already hear the lecture Mona would have prepared about looking suspicious and doing impulsive things that were bound to come back on them. But Mona surprised her.

“Let’s go.” Mona walked past her without another word.

“Okay, I _don’t_ know what you’re going to say.” Alison shook her head in disbelief. Mona always kept her guessing.

Twenty minutes later they were walking into a little dive establishment with several rowdy people playing pool and dancing around without a care in the world. It was almost more like a club than a bar. Despite all the people that were packed into the place, the bartender recognized Ava immediately.

“Hey, no…she can’t be in here.” He bristled up with a frown on his face.

“She was allowed in here when she was a paying customer whom you served knowing that she was a minor. How would that look to the authorities?” Alison questioned.

The bartender scowled at her, but didn’t fight her. Alison led the way. She had Ava retrace her steps. They looked for anything that could give them another lead. Alison looked around for security cameras.

“You’re wasting your time,” Caitlin said. “People come here because of their lack of cameras. Besides, she is off-the-charts smart. She wouldn’t have come to a public place that would expose her to Beacon Heights…”

“She exposed herself to me.” Ava replied. She thought about the way she’d phrased it. She saw the perplexed looks on everyone’s faces. “That came out wrong.”

“Okay, we’ll do one last sweep.” Alison suggested. “Look for _anything_ that is out of the ordinary. And talk to people.” She glanced at the kids. “And stay together.” It came out very motherly. She almost told them to “use the buddy system” before she stopped herself. She was basically treating them like Lily and Grace.

They split up and wandered around the bar. Fifteen minutes later they met near a booth. No one had anything.

“The bartender swears no one matching her description came in tonight,” Mona said.

“Well, he’s lying.” Ava glanced at the angry macho male tending bar.

“Did you recognize anyone from earlier?” Alison asked Ava.

“No. The crowd is different.”

“I wouldn’t say that. There’s a few familiar faces from where I’m sitting.” Someone sitting behind the booth cut into their conversation.

The voice was like nails on a chalkboard. They turned to face the _one_ person none of them wanted to see. Somehow, _none_ of them had spotted her.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Dana smiled and raised her glass.

Alison immediately puffed up in defense, and she reverted to her knee-jerk reaction. Bitchy Ali came out to play.

“Isn’t it counterproductive to drink on the job?”

“I’m off-duty.” Dana shrugged.

“Hmm, taking a break from working with big brother? They’re not going to like that.”

“Your hostility only leads me to believe that you’re overcompensating for something.”

“Displacing your blatant projections on me is not going to work.” Alison bit back.

“Then let’s cut right to the chase, shall we?” Dana asked. “What are you doing in a bar at this time of night…with your _underage_ students?”

“I thought you said you were off-duty.” Caitlin jumped in to defend Alison.

Dana looked at Caitlin, half impressed and half annoyed.

“Just call me a concerned citizen.” Dana smiled.

“A concerned citizen who is inebriated.” Dylan took a verbal swing, too.

“I’d hardly call one beer ‘under the influence’.”

“The second you put any mind-altering substance in your body you lose all legal grounds…”

“I would advise you to stay out of it, Ms. Vanderwaal.” Dana cut her off. “You’re not being paid to question my authority. It’s none of your concern.”

“It is when it comes to the well-being of my students.” Mona argued.

“Tread very carefully here,” Dana warned. “Given your past history and your… _spotty_ record…” She chose her words carefully, “…you’re lucky to have such a generous employer.”

“You don’t get to ask us anything about any of this. It’s unconstitutional.” Dylan looked at the girls. “We don’t have to take this. Let’s just go.”

Ava nodded in agreement. They turned to leave. Alison and Mona looked at one another and then looked at Dana again. Mona held back. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she knew it would be unwise. They turned around, but Dana called out after Alison.

“Mrs. DiLaurentis? I haven’t forgotten about our conversation the other day,” she said. “I really would like to talk to your wife.”

That sparked a flame in Alison. She turned to face her again, nostrils flared. She felt Emily’s ring burning a hole in her pocket.

“I swear to God if you did something to her…”

“Ali, take it down a notch.” Mona gripped her arm. She’d seen that ‘slapping’ hand up close enough times to know when it was getting ready to smack someone. And she didn’t think that slapping someone with a badge was a wise idea, no matter how horrible she was. “Don’t play into her hand.” She uttered.

Alison loosened her stance, but she didn’t stop glaring at Dana. Dana’s gaze drifted over towards the kids.

“I thought I had you all figured out.” Dana looked back at Alison.

“If you don’t stop harassing my students you’re going to find out _exactly_ who I am.”

“You find it very hard to keep your nose out of things, don’t you?” Dana asked.

“I find it against my moral code to stand back and do nothing when good people are being mistreated.”

“Retribution from your past?” Dana guessed.

“Something like that,” Alison replied coolly. “Whatever game you’re playing, you stay the _hell_ away from my kids.”

Caitlin, Ava, and Dylan all looked at her in surprise.

“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into here,” Dana replied. It didn’t sound like a threat. It sounded like a warning.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve been through worse.”

“Contrary to what you might believe, I’m not the bad guy here. I don’t dislike you, Alison. I simply don’t trust you.”

“I trust you even less.” Alison countered.

“A student is dead…”

“You sure about that?” Ava muttered.

Fortunately, Dana didn’t hear her comment. But her friends did. They shot her a look.

“I know you’re hiding something.” Dana looked at Alison and then finished off her drink. “You are _all_ hiding your dirty laundry. But sooner or later that laundry gets dragged out of the dark corner you’ve shoved it in.” She looked from the kids to Alison. “Make no mistake, I will find out what happened to Nolan Hotchkiss. And if I find out that you were involved, you’re all going to answer to the highest level of the law.”

She walked towards the bar to pay her tab.

“Game on, bitch.” Alison growled.

“What kind of teacher _are_ you?” Caitlin stared at her in surprise.

“I try to take a nontraditional approach…”

“No shit.” Ava laughed.

They left the bar riding high on adrenaline. They hadn’t found anything that was going to lead them to Taylor and her mystery helper, but they had walked out of the bar with a mutual trust in one another and deeply set in their convictions. There was no more doubt. They were a unit, and they were stronger together.

Alison made sure Ava, Caitlin, and Dylan got back to their rooms safely and then she went home. Mona walked inside with her just to be on the safe side. With the new evidence that had come to light, she knew they couldn’t be too careful. Mona grabbed a piece of paper from Alison’s desk and started drawing something without saying a word. When she was done she handed it to Alison. Alison looked at it. It was a map.

“Beacon Guard dead zones,” Mona said. “Make sure the kids know where they are. We’ll stick with _checkmate_ as our SOS for now. And we can meet up in one of the dead zones if anything comes up.”

“Got it,” Alison replied.

“Are you going to be okay?” Mona asked.

Alison shrugged. She glanced at the food that Mona had brought, still sitting untouched on the table.

“You know, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for Beacon Heights to think we’re friends. You don’t have to bring food every time you come by.”

“Are we though?” Mona asked. “Friends?”

“We did terrible things to each other,” Alison stated. She creased her brow in thought. “I don’t know if I ever apologized for the way I treated you.” She frowned. “I’m so sorry that I was so ugly to you.”

“And I’m sorry I tried to kill you and tortured our friends.”

She waited on Alison to challenge her and correct her with a snarky _“my friends”_ comment, but she didn’t.

“I’m glad I’m not alone in this,” Alison admitted.

“I’ll let you know if I find anything else out,” Mona said. She paused before turning to leave. “We’re going to find her, Alison.”

“I just hope she’s still breathing.”

“She was a swimmer for years. She can hold her breath for an incredibly long time.” Mona gave her a timid smile. She put her hand on top of Alison’s. “If she can survive me…and Charlotte…and Alex and Mary…she can survive this.”

Alison nodded. She walked Mona to the door. Mona said goodnight and then told her to activate Beacon Guard again. Alison thanked her and then closed the door.

Once she knew the cameras were back on her she couldn’t settle down. She tried to go into her office and write a letter to Emily, but she kept getting distracted by the stupid blinking light on her wall. She stared at it, mentally flipping it the bird. She put her hand in her pocket, against Emily’s ring.

She glanced at the picture she had on her desk of Lily and Grace. They were sitting by the edge of a pool with their feet in the water. Grace had her little inflatable arm floaties on and Lily had a pink and white float shaped like a doughnut around her waist. Grace was kicking her feet, sending water flying everywhere. Both of them were mid-laugh.

Their hair was still dry because they hadn’t gotten into the pool yet. Their bathing suits weren’t even remotely close to matching. They’d tried to dress them alike for a while, but the twins resisted. Lily used to throw her pants into the toilet if she looked like Grace. And Grace would just rip all her clothes off and run around in her diaper. After a while they gave up on the cutesy matching clothes and let the girls pick out what they wanted. Grace liked a lot of neon colors and she loved blacks and blues. Lily liked the frilly stuff. She was a girlie girl, through and through.

Alison stared at the picture. She remembered the day it had been taken. Just minutes after Emily had snapped the picture the girls had run towards the water slide. Alison and Emily had watched them from their long lounge chairs by the side of the water. Lily had gone down first, exploding into excited laughter after she hit the water. She kicked her little feet and used her float to help her get to the side. Grace had quickly followed.

They spent almost ten minutes running back to that slide and going down. Their mothers never tired of watching them.

Lily ran up to them after she climbed up the stairs out of the pool to get some juice. Grace played in the shallow end for a few minutes, but then got bored and went over to the kiddie pool. Emily kept her eyes on her. She watched as Grace pulled off her floaties and climbed on to a little blue raft and played around in the splash zone.

After a few minutes of playtime she’d followed her sister to get some juice. She asked her moms for a cookie and then she wandered off again. She watched as her moms doted on her sister and she started to get jealous. She ran up the stairs to the water slide

 _“Mommy! Mama! Watch! Look! Look-it!”_ Grace had shouted enthusiastically.

As soon as she saw her mothers turn their attention to her she pushed herself down the slide. Alison almost had a panic attack because she saw that she didn’t have her swimmies on. She leaped up, ready to dive in after her.

 _“Wait…”_ Emily put her arm up in front of Alison.

_“She doesn’t have her swimmies on…”_

_“I don’t think she realizes that. Let’s not cause a panic. Let’s see what she does.”_

_“Emily…”_

But before she could argue she saw Grace start kicking her legs and doggy-paddling over to the side of the pool, spitting water out and laughing as she swam. Alison looked at Emily in astonishment. Emily grinned at her.

 _“What? She’s our kid. Are you really that surprised?”_ Emily asked.

_“That wasn’t US. That was all you.”_

_“You’re the one who took them to swim classes.”_ Emily refused to take the credit.

_“Yeah, but let’s face it. The mermaid skills come from their mama.”_

Grace climbed out of the pool and padded over to them, leaving her wet footprints against the pavement and trails of water behind her.

_“I did it. Did you see?”_

Grace climbed in Alison’s lap, dripping water all over her. She crawled close to Alison’s face and threw her arms around Alison’s neck and giggled. Alison kissed her and Grace nuzzled against her.

_“You did so good, baby.”_

_“Better than Lily?”_

_“I went down the slide like twenty-hundred times!”_ Lily quickly butt in. She crawled off of Emily’s chair and tugged against Alison’s legs as she pushed herself into her lap, earning a scowl from Grace.

Alison had looked over at Emily, who had gently taken her hand and smiled at her. Alison remembered feeling so fulfilled with love in that moment. Her babies in her lap and her wife’s hand in hers. She missed it.

She missed it so fucking much.

The sight of the blinking light on the security system on her wall ripped her out of that fantasy and back into reality. Alison looked at the hand drawn map that Mona had given her of areas outside of Beacon Guard’s range. She grabbed her journal and huffed out of the house.

She trekked out to a dead zone. She looked around for good measure. After a few seconds she looked up at the stars. She pulled out her notepad and started scribbling down her thoughts. They poured out of her. She wanted more than anything to talk to Emily. But the words had nowhere to go. So she did the next best thing…she wrote to her.

_“The stars are my only connection to you right now. I’m terrified that I’m going to look up and find that the one star I’ve always been able to find won’t be there. I’m terrified for you, Emily. I don’t like being apart. I miss you. I miss the girls. I miss US. Everything has changed. I know I said I came here for a fresh start…to make something better of myself for you and Grace and Lily. But I’m starting to realize that was just a smokescreen. I’m starting to realize that I was so afraid of happiness that I was searching for something to distract myself from that fear of the other shoe dropping. But I’m an idiot. I’m an idiot, because I had it all.”_

She sighed and glanced at the stars again. Was Emily somewhere across the universe staring at the same sky? Did she know how much Alison loved her? She looked down at her paper again.

_“My entire life I thought I had everything I could possibly want. Then I met you. Before you came into my life I thought that happiness was just about the material things…getting what I wanted. But then you came into my life with your kind heart and your giving spirit and you made me look beyond the surface. It was only in meeting you, and now suffering the pain of this distance…of being apart…that I understood that I have never known happiness without you. You’re my light. You’re my life. And I will do everything it takes to bring you home safe. All of my love, my dear. I’ve said it every night since we got engaged, but I’ve felt it since the day we met. I love you.”_

She closed up the notepad and tapped her pen against it. She sat out under the stars for a few more minutes, hoping… _praying_ that Emily was safe. She rolled Emily’s ring around in between her fingers. She was trying not to think of the worst case scenario, but things weren’t looking good. If Emily had somehow gotten mixed up in this, if she was hurt…or worse…she wasn’t sure she could live with herself. But until they had answers she knew that Mona was right. They had to keep playing the game, as twisted as it was.

She slowly made her way back to town. She was so caught up in her emotions that she didn’t see the person slinking in the shadows. She’d gone out to the dead zone so she could get a little peace and quiet, to get away from the ever-incessant presence she felt being trapped in Taylor’s old house. She’d taken all of the precautions.

She knew that Beacon Guard wasn’t watching her.

But someone else was.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Zoinks, Scoob! What does this mean for Em? And what do we think of Ava the brawler? And Caitlin and her lady-balls? Can we trust these kids? And what about that evidence Mona found? Who was Taylor talking to? What was Claire up to? And will Dana EVER stop playing bad cop/bad cop? Will Alison ever get to hold her babies again and tell them the story of how she proposed to their Mama?_

_Tune in next time..._


	6. Teach Your Children Well

**A/N:** _*drops beat*_ _Guess who’s back? Back again? *hears crickets chirping, coughs, let’s self out*. I’m off to hang my head in shame for 1) Being so bad about updates (though to be fair I did warn everyone they would be sporadic) and 2) Just being a complete nerd in general. Thank you to the audience still out there that hasn’t given up on me._

* * *

  **Chapter 6:**

**Teach Your Children Well**

Alison’s bed had felt cold since she’d moved. She had gotten so used to Emily being next to her and to her girls shoving their way between them every other night. She had forgotten what an empty bed felt like. Without Lily rolling over in her sleep and smacking her face and Grace kicking her appendix and smothering her with her bear, and without both girls mumbling and making little babbling noises in their sleep it didn’t feel like home. They were constantly worming their way into their mommies’ bed.

The very last weekend before Alison was set to leave for Beacon Heights was no exception. Alison and Emily had been at odds and ends, but they’d made it a point to never go to bed angry with one another. It’s one of the things that made their marriage work. To reconcile differences, or put aside petty annoyances just long enough to say, _“I love you”_.

Alison had wept in Emily’s arms that night, a release of emotions…a combination of not feeling like she was good enough, not wanting to leave her family, a fear of the future, guilt for wanting to take this step for herself. She wanted it, but she felt guilty for wanting it. And Emily didn’t say a word to discourage her. She just let her cry. And once it was over, Emily had pushed Alison’s tear-stricken hair aside and kissed her.

_“Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to, Ali.”_

_“You have every right to be mad at me…”_

_“Hey, I’m not. I’m not mad. I will never let my anger be stronger than my love for you.”_

_“I’m so sorry that I insinuated I don’t love our family…or if I made you feel like I felt trapped doing it. I don’t…”_

_“I know. And I don’t discredit the fact that what happened to us…to YOU…was horrible. You have every right to have conflicting emotions about it. I want you to know that I think you are the strongest woman I know. Not everyone could have done what you did.”_

_“I made my choice. And I don’t regret it.”_ She’d slowly looked up at her. _“I want you to know that had they been Archer’s…I don’t think I would have gone through with it. But I love you and when I found out that you were their mom…I just…I pictured you holding our child in your arms. I pictured our family. I knew our child…our CHILDREN would always be safe with you.”_

_“They will. I would give my life for our babies. They will always be safe with me, Ali.”_

Alison had reached out to touch Emily’s cheek.

_“You and the girls are enough. I just want you to know that. You’re more than enough. I love you so much.”_

_“I know.”_

_“Do you think they do?”_

_“Of course.”_

_“What if this screws them up? What if I screw them up by taking this job?”_

_“Alison, plenty of children have parents who are away for work. My mom and dad managed. I don’t think that screwed me up. I mean, I missed my dad. But I understood why he was away. And it made my time with him so much more precious when I got to see him. I learned from a very early age not to take my time with him for granted. And I think we’re raising the girls with the right values. They’re smart, they’re kind, they’re independent…”_

Before she could finish talking they heard a rustling noise and then two sets of footfalls racing down the hallway. It sounded like they were pushing one another, racing to see who could get to their mommies’ room first.

_“Well, independent MOST of the time.”_

Seconds later they heard the doorknob twisting and Lily pushed her way inside the room. Grace was right behind her, her teddy bear in her arms.

The two bright-eyed girls stared at their moms for a minute. Grace looked at Alison with a pitiful expression on her face. They’d been struggling with the idea of Alison leaving. They’d been acting out in preschool and refused to stick to a set sleep schedule. And fighting. God, the fighting. Sometimes Alison would lock herself in her bathroom for a few minutes to get away from their constant bickering. Emily’s safe haven was the garage.

_“Lily woke me up.”_

_“Did not!”_ Lily cried back defiantly.

_“Did so!”_

_“I did not.”_ Lily frowned. _“Grace wouldn’t stay in her big girl bed.”_

_“The sheets are itchy.”_

_“We have the same sheets!”_ Lily said.

 _“Girls, let’s not fight. It is way too late and your mommies are tired.”_ Emily sat up. She made room in their bed.

They’d been trying to break Grace and Lily from sleeping in their bed with them, but given that Alison was leaving so soon they were willing to make an exception.

 _“What are you two little munchkins waiting for? Come on!”_ Alison slapped the mattress. _“Get up here so we can smoosh your little faces.”_

Lily and Grace both giggled and then barreled forward, diving into the bed. Lily accidentally poked Alison in the ribs with her fingers and Grace kneed Emily in the stomach. She crawled into Emily’s arms and grinned at her.

 _“This was your plan all along, huh? Stun us with your cuteness?”_ Emily kissed the tip of Grace’s nose.

The way Emily was with their girls always made Alison feel so warm inside. The love she had in her heart was incredible.

 _“I’ll never tell.”_ Grace shook her head.

 _“Oh, we have ways of making you talk.”_ Alison grabbed Lily.

Lily squealed and tried to get away, but Alison only held her tighter.

 _“Help me, Gracie!”_ Lily reached out for her sister.

Emily moved just enough, pulling Grace against her body and using her own body as a shield of armor.

 _“No you don’t.”_ Emily teased.

_“Oh no! They got me, too!”_

_“And there’s only one way out. You know what that is?”_ Emily asked.

 _“I promise to give you infinity kisses forever and ever.”_ Grace smiled.

 _“Well, then there is only one thing left to do.”_ Emily grinned. _“You have to pay the toll…”_ She moved her hand against Grace’s side and squeezed her. The little girl erupted in giggles.

 _“Stop it, Mama!”_ She squealed in laughter.

 _“I’m not Mama.”_ Emily continued to tickle her. She reached out with her other hand and poked Lily’s little belly. _“It’s the tickle troll! And she demands that you pay the tickle troll toll!”_ She pulled Lily towards her.

Alison held them down while Emily tickled them. The twins’ laughter echoed off of the walls for several minutes.

Emily let them both go. The girls were still breathing hard from laughing so much. But they were starting to settle down. They were nuzzled in between their mothers. Lily looked up at her moms, a curious expression on her face.

 _“You love us the best right? More than anything in the whole world?”_ Lily asked.

 _“More than anything in the WHOLE world.”_ Alison nodded.

_“And you’ll never let anything happen to us?”_

_“Never.”_ Emily agreed.

_“And we’ll always be together?”_

Emily and Alison looked at one another. It got increasingly harder to explain to the girls that even though they wouldn’t be living in the same house, that they would always be family.

 _“Always,”_ Emily answered.

 _“Why can’t we go with you, Mommy?”_ Lily asked Alison.

 _“It’s not…”_ Alison struggled with how to explain her job to a child, _her_ child. _“It’s only for a little while. It’s not forever.”_

 _“Yeah, you remember what we talked about, right?”_ Emily ran her fingers through Lily’s hair.

 _“That…that even if we’re really far apart…we’re still together…in our hearts.”_ Grace pressed her palm against Alison’s chest. _“But we still will get to see each other and talk all the time?”_

Alison pulled Grace into her arms and hugged her. She kissed the top of her head and looked over at Emily, who was doing the same with Lily.

 _“Girls, we will always be a family. I promise,”_ Alison said.

She felt Grace’s nervous energy melt away. She reached out and touched the top of Lily’s soft head with one hand and put her other hand against Emily’s arm. Emily smiled warmly at her.

They all fell asleep shortly afterwards. But of course, two children didn’t settle for very long. Two hours later Grace was crawling all over Alison.

 _“Mommy? You asleep?”_ Grace quietly cuddled next to her.

 _“What’s wrong, Gracie?”_ Alison opened her eyes. _“Did you have a bad dream?”_

 _“No. I just can’t sleep.”_ Grace yawned. _“Can you tell me the story again? About you and Mama?”_

Alison lifted Grace up into her arms and sat up in the bed. She looked over at Lily and Emily. Lily was sprawled out across Emily’s body, her head in the groove of Emily’s chest. Her hand was slack against Emily’s face. She was always surprised at how easy it was for Lily to sleep in any position, like a little cat. And she was even more surprised that her constant smacking hadn’t woken Emily up. She moved out of the bed. She didn’t want to wake them.

 _“Mommy? My story?”_ Grace asked again.

_“Yeah, of course. Why don’t we get you some warm milk?”_

Grace laid her head against Alison’s shoulder and sighed.

Alison heated up some milk and put some honey in it, which had always done the trick in getting her back to sleep. It had been something Pam had taught her and Emily early on. Grace took the cup and sipped the milk, leaving a thick white mustache of it across the top of her lip. Alison picked her up and put her in her lap.

_“Tell me the story, mommy.”_

_“The first time I ever saw your mama she was riding her bike up her driveway. She was the prettiest little girl I’d ever seen. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She saw a man in uniform waiting at the front door and she nearly kicked the bike out from under her feet and ran over to jump into his arms. I remember seeing her smile. I knew how much love she had in her heart from that smile. YOU have that smile.”_ Alison poked her side.

Grace smiled and Alison saw it.

 _“There is is.”_ Alison pinched her cheek. _“Your mama’s smile lit up the whole neighborhood that day. And I remember thinking that I wanted to be a part of her life.”_

_“And then you asked her to live with you and have me and Lily?”_

_“Not quite yet.”_ Alison laughed. _“We were both still little. Not much older than you are now. We had to grow up a little bit first. But there wasn’t one night that went by that I didn’t think of your mama’s smile. I loved seeing her smile.”_ Her happy expression faltered a bit, because she’d always been honest with her children, but it was hard sometimes. It always made her regret the darker moments in her past. _“Sometimes I wasn’t always the nicest person to your mama or your aunties. Sometimes I made them do the opposite of smile.”_

_“Because you were afraid of Auntie Mona…”_

_“No, Gracie. That…that was a part of it. But that’s never an excuse to treat people badly. You understand?”_

_“I know, mommy.”_

_“Good girl.”_ She kissed the top of her head. _“Your mama and I loved one another, so even when things were really bad…I always knew that I would be safe with her. I always felt safe and happy when I saw her smile. I always knew…looking into her eyes…I always knew that there was no one else for me. And so…one day, I finally asked her if she would be my wife…and your mama. And she looked at me, and she smiled…”_ A ridiculous smile that Alison loved, because it was this mixed expression of ‘you’re out of your mind’ and ‘I love you so much’, _“And she kissed me…”_

 _“OOooh.”_ Grace uttered teasingly. Alison tickled her and she laughed and then sighed. _“Mommy, do you still love Mama?”_

There was a shuffling noise in the doorway. Alison didn’t have to look up to know what it was.

 _“I will always love your mama.”_ She replied to Grace.

Alison looked up and saw Emily walking into the kitchen, Lily in her arms. Lily’s cheek was resting against Emily’s shoulder. She had her thumb in her mouth. She pulled the digit out with an audible pop and looked at Alison.

 _“And your mama will always love your mommy.”_ Emily put Lily down next to Alison and Grace.

 _“Did we wake you?”_ Alison questioned.

 _“Nah. Sleeping Beauty kicked me in the head.”_ Emily chuckled, ruffling Lily’s hair. _“Why don’t I heat up some of those waffles from this morning?”_

The girls cheered in excitement. Alison watched Emily with a smile on her face. She knew it was these cherished moments she was going to miss the most while she was away.

That night she took two very sleepy toddlers back to their big girl beds and tucked them in. Then she went and climbed into bed next to her wife. Neither one of them had said anything. They’d always spoken louder with actions. And Alison’s body was screaming for Emily’s touch. She knew all the right motions, all the right places to kiss her. She knew her body like a map of the world. And Alison relished in every moment. That night she fell asleep in Emily’s arms, sweaty and completely satisfied. It was the last good night’s sleep she’d had.

Weeks later when she was three time zones away, halfway asleep, she rolled over and reached out, expecting Emily’s warm body to be next to hers, but her hand slapped the cold mattress. She rolled on to her back and sighed, staring at the ceiling. She definitely needed her wife’s touch right now.

She’d been jittery ever since they’d run into Dana Booker at the bar where Ava saw Taylor.

They’d spent the last three days trying to figure out who Taylor would have been close enough to trust. Dylan had been baiting his boyfriend in their conversations to see if he knew anything. Caitlin had been cozying up to Claire, using her as a way to get information. And Ava had been scouring through all of her things to see if Nolan had left any clues.

Mona and Alison had been exhausting all of their options, but it was proving to be a little more challenging than Rosewood. For one thing, they were being watched very closely. And for another they didn’t have the added bonus of their other friends’ sleuthing skills. They were trying to keep their friends out of it. They thought they were safer outside of the loop. That didn’t mean that they didn’t talk to them to try and gather information that way.

The same night that Alison was tossing in her sleep, Mona had finally gotten a hold of Hanna. For Mona, hearing her best friend’s voice provided a relief she didn’t know she needed in her life. Mona listened to Hanna talk about her family for a while, then she casually asked how her mother was doing.

“Is she still running _The Radley_?” Mona asked.

“I have half the shares now, so I do a lot of the heavy lifting.”

“Oooh, so what does Mrs. Mama Big Spender do in her free time? Does she still get together with Em’s mom for their weekly dine and dish?” She tried to lead Hanna into a conversation about Emily without her realizing it.

“You know, she mentioned that Pam missed the last two get-togethers. I think she is on some kind of retreat with her sister?” Hanna questioned. “Something about…communes and Amish-ville with no phones. God, can you imagine?”

That set off all kinds of bells in Mona’s mind. Something didn’t feel right about that. Emily and the twins disappearing was one thing. But Mama Fields going off the radar, too? Pam wasn’t one to leave town without planning _months_ in advance. And Emily would have told Alison, because Pam helped with caring for the girls since Alison wasn’t home. Were they together? Or were the kids with her somewhere? And how would Emily explain the situation to her mother if they _were_ dropping off the radar? A lot of things weren’t adding up.

Then again, if Emily had kept her mother out of it and she and the girls weren’t in Rosewood anymore Pam would have the free time to go on whatever miserable tech-free retreat she wanted to go on.

“Sounds like torture.” Mona tried to laugh, but it came out more like a nervous gurgle.

Hanna didn’t miss her tension.

“Mona, is everything okay there?” Hanna questioned.

“What?”

“You sound weird. I mean, you’re not hopping the first train to A-ville with that guy being killed, are you? Are you taking your meds? Is Alison looking out for you?”

“I’m fine, Hanna.” Mona appreciated her concern.

“Good. I’m glad to hear it.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “You know, I was telling Caleb I’m overdue for a visit. Maybe we could…”

“Oh, um…now is not really a good time. I’m like…super-swamped. It’s testing time and kids here are really high strung…like _worse_ than Spencer…”

“Damn…” Hanna muttered.

“Yeah. And I’ve got back-to-back sessions where I have to hold their hands and tell them that it’s not the end of the world if they get a B-minus.”

She had to do everything she could to keep her best friend away. She didn’t need Hanna wrapped up in the back hole that was Nolan Hotchkiss.

“The old Mona would have told them to suck it up and take their participation trophy, cry themselves a river, build a bridge, and then get over it. You’ve really changed.”

“We all have.” Mona glanced at her computer screen.

She never would have dreamed that meek little high schooler Emily Fields would one day be reaching out to her through a chess game. She always knew that Emily had it in her. But she also knew that Emily didn’t reach out for help unless something was seriously wrong.

“Hello, earth to space cadet Mona?” Hanna did not appreciate the silence.

“Oh, sorry. I was just…looking at some paperwork. Nothing important. But I do have to run. I promise we’ll make plans soon, Han.”

They said their goodbyes. Mona stared at her phone in her hand and then slowly put it down against the counter. She walked to her computer. The monitor was still open to a chess algorithm…that looked like any other algorithm to people with a regular eye. But Mona didn’t see things normally. She never had. She had created another app and she was hoping that Emily would somehow find it. But so far, nothing.

Ever since she’d seen the wreckage of the cabin where she found Emily’s ring she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. It wasn’t finding the ring that worried her. It was what she found _with_ the ring. There was a significant detail she had failed to mention to Alison. For good reason.

She rolled a tiny sliver of paper out of her make-up compact. It was no larger than a fortune from a fortune cookie. She’d done something similar once back in her A-days, but this was much more sinister. The message was written in a longform of old English cursive, like a Shakespearean play, like a creepy villain torturing its prey. The calligraphy was so precise. The message was clear though,

_“Children shouldn’t suffer for the sins of their parents. Tell Alison about this and that’s exactly what will happen. Stop digging.”_

Mona rolled the message back up and slid it into a hidden compartment in her little travel make-up bag. She felt like she was betraying Alison by not telling her, but she also worried what it would mean for Lily and Grace if she _did_ tell her.

She felt like someone was playing a game with her again. And she knew that was a dangerous path to take.

But there was so much that didn’t fit. Nolan’s death. Taylor Hotchkiss being spotted alive. Claire’s secret phone conversations. Nolan reaching out to Alison before he died. The tickets to Rosewood that Alison had found in Taylor’s house. It was all just a little too detailed. Too planned. What if the real story wasn’t what was going on in Beacon Heights?

What if Nolan’s death was the catalyst for something bigger? What if Dana was just a coincidental inconvenience? What if the real game wasn’t finding out what happened to Nolan? What if it was a big distraction from something else happening while they were all looking away?

They’d made their fair share of enemies throughout their days in Rosewood. It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that someone was trying to take down not only Alison, but Emily as well. And of course, Mona herself as an added bonus.

It was a diabolical plan. Have Alison go down for murder…or covering up a murder, taking Mona, Ava, Dylan, and Caitlin with them…while also hitting Alison where it really hurt…going after the person she loved most in the world. Emily.

What scared Mona the most wasn’t that someone was targeting them, but someone was clearly targeting Alison and Emily _specifically_. And there was one common denominator that they had that none of their other friends shared: children that had been the product of manipulation. Emily was their biological mother. And Mona had learned from Alex Drake who their biological father was, though she was still sitting on that information, because she had nothing to confirm it.

She also had nothing to confirm _any_ of what Alex and Mary Drake had told her about his demise. She also didn’t know what had ever happened to Mary and Alex. Or she’d blocked it out. She couldn’t remember certain pieces. She had imagined some of it, but some of it was reality. She just wasn’t sure where the lines of reality ended and where the fiction began.

France had happened. But things got hazy for her after that.

It was clear someone had been watching Alison…or Emily. Or both of them. She wondered if the plan to separate them was to get Alison alone and vulnerable…or if it was a way to get Emily by herself. Because right now, Emily seemed to be the one in immediate danger. What could have spawned her to go on the run? And how was any of it related to whatever the hell was happening in Beacon Heights?

She thought about the wedding ring and felt a gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. Alison had told her Emily would never take it off. That meant someone had taken it off by force.

The strangest thing about Emily’s disappearance was the fact that no one was reporting it. Hanna had seemed perfectly normal when she talked to her. No one was claiming they were missing. It’s as if they were living ghosts.

When Mona had looked into where Emily was working she’d discovered that she’d requested some time off to get the girls into a routine after Alison left. There was nothing beyond that in her file. She found the same thing when she looked into the girl’s preschool application. They hadn’t been going regularly before Alison left, so it didn’t look suspicious on paper that they weren’t showing up regularly now.

Mona thought about calling Alison, but it was late. She’d been talking to Hanna for almost two hours. Hanna had undoubtedly forgotten about the time difference. Mona didn’t know that Alison was lying in bed awake, tossing and turning.

As Mona stared at her algorithm, Alison was staring at the ceiling.

Alison felt a strange ominous feeling hanging over her. Over the years she’d developed a pretty good instinct to tell when things were going awry. All her time on the run had given her keen survival skills. And like an animal sensed certain changes in the atmosphere before a natural disaster, the blonde felt that shift in the universe at 2:22 AM.

It was 11:22 PM in Pennsylvania. And a swarm of police cars were parked thirty miles outside of Rosewood. A detective was making her way over to a burned out car. She stopped to take note of the scene, looking for any scrap or shred of evidence that could have been overlooked. But the townies had covered their bases. She walked over to a uniformed officer.

“When was this discovered?” she asked.

“About thirty-five minutes ago. Probably been here a couple of days. There was obviously an accelerant used, so they’re ruling it intentional homicide. Won’t know the cause of death until forensics does its thing. The body is burned beyond recognition,” the cop answered.

“Of course. Who doesn’t love a good mystery?” The detective was oozing with sarcasm. “How does a fire this large go undetected?”

“Cover of the cliffs?” The cop shrugged. “People come out this way for bonfires all the time. And if it happened at night the smoke wouldn’t have been as heavy in the morning. This isn’t a populated area. No one around to see it and report it.”

“Any other sets of tracks?”

“No. But with the rain last night it might have washed away surrounding evidence.”

“Hmm, no witnesses. No trace.” She looked around and mumbled. “Someone is smart.” She looked at the cop again. “What else you got?”

“Car is registered to Emily Fields and…Alison DiLaurentis.” The cop felt a twinge of recognition. “Why do those names sound so familiar?”

The woman turned around, a snide look on her face.

“It always comes back to those girls…”

“Detective Tanner?” The police chief came walking up behind them.

Linda Tanner. She’d been called in because the homicide wasn’t completely in Rosewood’s jurisdiction. They’d sent in the state to help with the case. Linda had been their first choice. She had a high standing with the Rosewood PD.

“Long time, no see.” Tanner shook the man’s hand. “So, back to this old song and dance again, huh?”

“We’re not sure what to make of it. We haven’t been able to locate Mrs. Fields. And Mrs. DiLaurentis, the wife…she’s out of state in…”

“I know exactly where she is.” Tanner tapped her finger against her knuckle.

She kept tabs on the five girls the town media had dubbed “the pretty little liars”. She knew that Alison had taken a job opportunity all the way across the country. And it just so happened she was still able to keep an eye on her there, because she had a sister who had an in with the people who ran the little town where Alison lived now.

“I’ve got a sister in Beacon Heights.” Tanner smiled.

A sister who had recognized Alison’s name the second she came up on a case. When Dana had called Linda up to tell her that there had been a murder there, Linda was intrigued. Dana had asked for all the information she could get on Alison and Mona. And Linda had been more than willing to share. She had never fully trusted Alison, or any of the girls for that matter. And she knew a lot more than local media outlets.

“Either way, she clearly didn’t have a hand in anything that happened here. She’s halfway across the country.” The chief pointed out.

“You underestimate what people would do for their loved ones.” Tanner frowned.

“Of course not.” He looked insulted. “First thing we did was pull her phone records. It’s been over a week since they’ve talked. This happened two…three days ago, tops.”

“No wonder they called me in for this. The ineptitude is staggering.” Tanner mumbled.

“Excuse me?” He asked.

“It doesn’t strike you as odd that they haven’t talked?” Tanner glanced at the car. It had been taped-off. “Your loved one doesn’t contact you for a week and you _don’t_ call the police?”

“Not when they’ve treated me like shit.” The cop bit back. “Have a heart, Linda. This might be the poor woman’s wife.”

“Barry, you always were too soft for this job. I’m here because I have a very unique insight into these girls’ lives…”

“Yeah, so do I. Cut the shit. I have to work with you. I don’t have to like it.” Barry replied. “We’re looking into Mrs. Fields’ whereabouts, but more than likely she took their two little girls to visit their mother. The car was probably stolen from the airport. We’re tracking the GPS to see what we can find.”

“Did you obtain a search warrant for their house?” Tanner asked.

“Working on it.” Barry nodded.

Though they wouldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. It looked like any other house in the suburbs where two kids lived. Toys everywhere.

“Any identifying artifacts on the body?” Tanner asked.

“Something that looked like melted metal near the right wrist. Could have been a bracelet. Could have been a watch. Clothing was completely disintegrated. Body is still mostly intact. The forensic pathologist will have to hope there are dental records somewhere on file. Someone mentioned there looked like there were a couple of old fractures in the right shoulder, arm, and wrist. Some injured ribs, too.”

Linda stared at the scene, her thoughts running wild. She looked at the surroundings and frowned.

“Let’s keep this out of the press for now. Put surveillance on these parties of interest.” She jotted down a list of people associated with the DiLaurentis-Fields family. “Until we have a positive identification or evidence linking someone directly to the scene I just want you to observe, and if you see anything suspicious get back to me before doing anything.”

Barry smiled and nodded, ever the faithful lawman. But the second he climbed in his patrol car his fake façade melted away. He reached into his pocket, pulling out an evidence bag with something he’d taken away from the scene without logging it into evidence. He’d found the dusty charred locket two hundred feet away from the car. The smoke had left it covered in soot. His intuition had told him to hold on to it.

He pushed it around in the bag, pressing the side until it popped open to reveal two familiar faces in a heart shaped photo. He stared at the picture for a minute and then closed the locket and grabbed his phone and called in his first favor in years.

“Hey, it’s Barry. We’ve got a problem. I need you to get a message to someone. It’s important.”

It was his phone call that started a chain of events that would set off an inevitable flash of personal explosions that would threaten to change the destiny of several lives in the next twenty-four hours.

For Alison, her day started in a weird stasis of twilight. She’d had bad dreams that had made her very jumpy. She’d laid in bed for half an hour staring at the picture of her family, her eyes full of a painful longing feeling that only grew worse as the days went by. She’d never realized how much she _craved_ her family. Love was a strange drug. She’d had to detox from anti-psychosis meds when she was drugged in Welby. The detox she was suffering from not having Emily and the girls in her life was far worse.

Somehow, she pressed forward. She texted Mona to see if there were any updates, but didn’t hear back. She walked around in a fog, throwing her hair up in a messy bun before going out to conquer the day. It felt ridiculous to try and maintain a job and a full course schedule on top of trying to solve a murder. It drained a lot of her energy. She thought raising twins was hard, but it was nothing compared to splitting herself so thin that she could barely manage to walk upright. She sat in the wrong class for ten minutes before she realized she wasn’t just in the wrong classroom, but the wrong building entirely.

She slipped out without interrupting the lecture. She grumbled to herself in frustration about the standstill of the investigation, not knowing that all of the shit in all of the world was about to hit the same fan. She pulled her phone out to see if she’d heard anything from Mona. She found herself increasingly annoyed that there were no alerts on her phone. She hit the speed dial for Mona. Unsurprisingly, it went straight to voicemail.

“Okay, look, I know you like to ‘do you’ or whatever, but at least send me a text to let me know you haven’t been eaten by rabid cats or something.” Alison huffed and then hung up.

As she was shuffling to put her phone up, she dropped her things.

“Of course. Just perfect.” She grumbled as she slung her bag down against a bench.

She started gathering her things. Her phone buzzed and she looked down and saw a text from Mona. It consisted of a string of emojis. The first was a red circle with a diagonal line through it. The next was a cat. The third was a thumbs up. The last two were a cell tower and paperwork. It didn’t take a genius to piece together that she was telling Alison she hadn’t been eaten by cats, but that they shouldn’t talk or text and that she was still looking into Claire’s paper trail.

She was relieved to hear from her, but it annoyed her that she was being so elusive.

“You can talk for three hours about the evils of blended fabric, but all I get is a couple of lousy emojis?” Alison growled at her phone before she put it up.

She was getting to her feet when she heard heels heading her way. Seconds later she heard hushed whispers. She recognized her voice.

Claire.

She looked around the corner and saw her talking on the phone and walking right towards her. She looked flustered. Alison ducked into an empty classroom and left the door cracked. As luck would have it, Claire stopped right next to the bench Alison had just been at.

“They’re certain?” Claire asked in a nervous breathy tone. She played with her hair and tapped her foot impatiently. “One hundred percent certain?” Another pause. “No. I’ll handle everything here. You just do what I hired you to do.”

She listened carefully to the response on the other end.

“That’s if it _is_ her.” Claire seemed to be arguing about something. “You’ve kept bigger things quiet. I need more time. If we tell her, that could jeopardize everything. She might run…”

Alison’s brows creased. She swallowed a lump in her throat that tasted like bile going down.

“You let me know the second they have a positive ID. In the meantime I’ll clean things up on my end. When this does get out, it’s going to be messy. I need to get ahead of it.”

She ended the phone call by angrily stabbing her screen with her index finger, then she spun on her heels and walked away.

Alison waited a few minutes and then slipped out of the room. Her heart felt like it was vibrating in her chest.

She looked around the empty hallway. She felt like chasing her down and tackling her and forcing her to talk about whatever her hellhole town was up to. But she knew the smart approach was to watch from the shadows, to play her moves strategically and meticulously.

She pulled her phone out and responded to Mona’s text with a single emoji. A chessboard.

Then she made her way to Mona’s place, doing her best to avoid Beacon Guard along the way. Mona was waiting on her when she walked up to the door.

“What is the point of having safe zones if no one ever _uses_ them?” Mona uttered, waving Alison inside. “You look like hell.”

“Always a pleasure to see you, too.” Alison rolled her eyes.

Alison glanced around the apartment.

“It’s just us. I turned the dampener on when I saw you coming,” Mona said.

“Claire is making a move.” Alison tossed her things down.

“What kind of move?” Mona’s interest was piqued.

“I don’t know.”

“Where?”

“Well…I don’t know.”

“Come on, you’re better than that, Alison.”

“Give me a break. I haven’t slept in weeks. And I’m kinda being framed for murder.” She glared at Mona. “ _Again._ ”

“How many times do I have to say I’m sorry? I thought we were past that.” Mona waved her hand flippantly.

“We are.” Alison shook her head. “And I haven’t completely gone off the rails here. I remember my roots. And I know that the best offense is defense.” She felt a bubbling anger in her stomach. “She’s just lucky I didn’t rush her field and rip her head off.”

“Okay, talking like a football coach is not giving me any clarity here. What exactly did Claire do?” Mona walked over to her computer.

“She’s trying to cover something up. I overheard a phone call…”

“Talking about a crime in a public place? Rookie move.” Mona scoffed.

“I think…I think she might have been talking about another death.” She sat down on Mona’s couch and rubbed her face. “And I can’t stop thinking…I’m so fucking worried about Emily. What if it has something to do with her…or the girls?” The thought made her sick to her stomach.

Mona stiffened. The message she’d found attached to Emily’s ring flashed through her mind. She opened her mouth to tell her everything, but something stopped her. She had that same sinking feeling that Alison had. That something terrible was going on in the shadows.

“Did you get anywhere with the handwriting analysis?” Alison faced Mona.

Mona almost asked her how she knew about the calligraphy, how she knew about the little fortune that had been left with Emily’s ring. But then she remembered she was talking about the notes that she found in her house where Taylor was communicating with someone.

“Claire’s signature didn’t match. Taylor could have been communicating with Nolan, but his handwriting varies because he was ambidextrous. I double checked Ava, Caitlin, Dylan, Andrew, and Jeremy and none of their handwriting matches.”

“What about Mr. Hotchkiss?” Alison questioned. If Claire was dirty, she could only assume her husband was complicit.

“I haven’t been able to get a sample of his handwriting yet.”

“What about Claire’s phone records? Any indication who she was talking to on that video?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. It looks like she was using a burner.”

“Well, that just screams _shady_.” Alison frowned. “Can you find out who she was talking to today?”

“Maybe.” Mona sat down in front of her computer. “If she was in range of Beacon Guard I might be able to pinpoint the time to the corresponding tower and get a number.”

“We were in the Chemistry building.”

“What were you doing in the Chemistry building? Don’t you have British Literature in the mornings?”

“I told you…I haven’t slept.”

“I’m really starting to worry about you, Alison.” Mona shook her head.

“Speak for yourself. Have you even left Cave Mona this week?”

“Fair enough.” Mona typed on her keypad. “Want to narrow down a time for me?”

“About half an hour. Give or take.”

Mona screened some footage until she found Claire. Her face lit up in delight. She loved it when she was able to get things done. She pulled up the details of Claire’s location and then started scrolling through calls that were being transmitted through the closest cell towers. Her computer found a match within a few minutes.

“We have a number.” Mona smiled. “And where there is a number, there is a call history. I just let my pretty little technology do its thing and it will only be a matter of time before we see who she’s been talking to.”

“How long will that take?” Alison bit her lip. She was anxious and antsy, and Mona could see it in her body language.

“Anywhere from half an hour to two hours.” Mona glanced at her watch. “But I’m connected remotely…” She grabbed her phone. “So why don’t we go out and grab a bite to eat? In the sunlight? Out of the cave?”

Alison laughed softly. She nodded in agreement. They went to a café close to Mona’s place. Neither one of them were in a very chatty mood, especially out in public. They didn’t want to say or do anything that could be overheard. Just being out of the darkness and being with one another was enough. Alison picked at her scone while Mona savored her parfait.

“Listen, Ali…about Emily…”

Alison looked up from her brunch, but before Mona could say another word her phone trilled loudly. Alison glanced towards the noise.

“Is it the phone records?” she asked hopefully.

Mona looked at her screen with a mixture of wide-eyed confusion and a sliver of fear.

“Mona, what is it?”

“It’s the security system at my place. Something tripped it.” She scrambled out of her seat. “We need to get back there. I closed down all the systems that could alert anyone to my hacking, but it’s not an impenetrable fortress.”

Mona tried to check her cameras on her phone, but she kept getting a ‘signal interrupted’ message.

They quickly made their way out of the café. They stuck to alleys and fewer places where there would be cameras. They approached Mona’s place from the back, not wanting to walk into a trap.

When they got there, there was a moment, a split second where Alison felt like turning and running the other way. Because she’d gotten so used to having Emily as her protector that she felt unsafe without her around. But then she remembered that she wasn’t alone.

Mona paused at the back door and pulled out her phone, using an app to pull up her Beacon Guard security system. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary on the first few screens, but when she got to the fourth camera she saw a tall slender woman in her kitchen who appeared to be pulling wine glasses out of Mona’s cabinet.

“What the hell?” Mona’s face tightened.

Alison peered over her shoulder and watched the back of the woman’s head. The woman reached into a basket on the counter that hadn’t been there before they left for breakfast. It almost looked like a basket full of wine and cheese. Alison watched curiously.

“You got a girlfriend you want to tell me about or…”

“No.” Mona scoffed. “And if I did I certainly wouldn’t go for a blonde.” She frowned in disgust. “They’re much too needy.”

“Wha…hey.” Alison frowned, realizing it was a shot at her.

The mysterious woman turned around. Alison and Mona both let out little gasps of surprise.

“Why is Claire Hotchkiss in your house?” Alison frowned. “With alcohol? Do you think she’s going to try and seduce you?”

“Oh, calm down, _Mrs. Robinson_. With Claire it’s more likely she’ll use the wine bottle to try and knock me over the head before she disposes of my corpse.”

“Well, this episode of _Nancy Drew_ just got really dark.” Alison uttered.

“Come on.” Mona reached for the door.

“Wait a second.” Alison grabbed her wrist. “What if she’s here because she knows what we’ve been doing? What if she knows we’re on to her?”

“There’s two of us and one of her.” Mona shrugged.

They walked inside. Claire heard the door.

“Mona? Is that you?” Claire called out from the kitchen. “I hope you don’t mind that I let myself in. I had something I needed to talk to you about and it couldn’t wait…”

When they walked into the kitchen Claire stopped talking. She peered at Mona and then at Alison.

“Alison, I thought you were on campus.”

“I was.” Alison played it cool. “But I forgot my lesson plans for my afternoon class at home and I had some time to spare so I went to get them. I ran into Mona and we decided to grab a quick bite to eat.” It came out smooth and flawless.

Mona glanced at her out of the corner of her eyes, an impressed look on her face.

“Hmm.” Claire nodded, not immediately buying it. She didn’t call her on it though. “Well, I’ll just grab an extra glass.”

“Isn’t it a little early to start drinking?” Alison asked.

“Oh, it’s champagne, dear. Mimosas are all the rage.” Claire laughed.

She pulled some orange juice out of the fridge. She opened the cabinet, but didn’t see any more champagne flutes.

“Do you have any more flutes?”

Mona stared at her, baffled and confused. She pointed down the hallway.

“In the china cabinet down the hall.”

Claire smiled as she walked off. She had an odd gait that Mona noticed. Alison turned to Mona.

“I don’t like this. She’s acting like an evil stepford wife. And I _know_ evil stepford wives. My mother was like their queen.” Alison whispered.

“Did you see the way she was walking? She’s already tipsy. If we tip her over the scale she might let something slip.” Mona replied.

“Unless she poisons us.” Alison scoffed.

“Oh, please.” Mona snorted. “That only happens in unoriginal procedural dramas.”

“I was drugging people when we were fifteen. It happens.” Alison argued.

“Because you were a psychopath.” Mona smiled innocently at her.

Alison was not amused.

“Fine. If it makes you feel better, I’ll drink first. If I don’t die you’ll know it’s not laced with cyanide.” Mona shrugged.

Alison glared at Mona. Mona just grinned cheekily at her. They heard Claire coming back. Mona walked over to the champagne bottle and looked it over. It didn’t look like it had been tampered with. She smiled as she picked it up and started pouring it in the glasses. Claire helped her mix the drinks.

“What exactly are we toasting to?” Mona asked.

“I spoke with the board about your position at this school,” Claire said. “As you know, we’ve been reviewing you for a promotion for a little while now. We voted on it today. I wanted to be the one to give you the official word that it was unanimously decided to advance you in the official capacity.”

“Ah ha. Now I understand the champagne.” Mona smiled. She passed the glasses out. “Cheers.”

Their glasses clinked as they tapped them together. Mona and Alison watched Claire coolly sip on her beverage. Mona took a sip of hers. Alison pretended to pour some into her mouth. Claire didn’t seem to notice…or care…about their hesitance.

Claire moseyed over to the window. She stared out at the town. Her gaze lingered outside near one of the cameras for Beacon Guard.

“You know, it was actually Taylor who came up with the idea for Beacon Guard,” Claire swirled her glass around before taking another sip of her cocktail.

“Oh?” Mona asked.

“It was a silly childhood dream she had. She got the idea in her head one night after Nolan had a nightmare and woke up in tears. He was only five.” She turned around. There were tears in her eyes. “Taylor was the first one by his side. She loved her little brother.” Claire laughed. “They fought, of course. As siblings do.” She faced Alison. “I’m sure you’ve had to pull your girls apart more than once.”

There was a fondness when she talked about her kids. It was a gentle reminder to Alison that there was a part of her that was grieving her children. But it wasn’t enough to get Alison to drop her guard.

“But Heaven help anyone who tried to hurt him. She always saw herself as his protector. And that night was no different. After we’d gotten him settled and back to bed Taylor posed the question to me…what if there was someone always watching? Someone who would keep us safe? And I started to think…what if we had more than just security? What if we had a system that could predict what is needed to safe guard its citizens? What if we could live in a society where safety was guaranteed?”

She took a long hard look at Alison and Mona.

“I suspected that you two, out of everyone, could understand and appreciate that. I know I don’t have to tell you what it feels like to feel unsafe. You both possess certain… _qualities_ …that most people in Beacon Heights don’t have. And I know that can make you…skeptical. And I can appreciate that. But I also know that holding on to certain beliefs can drive even the strongest people to a swirling darkness…a self-destruction of a kind. It’s what happened to my daughter. I’m here to see that the same thing doesn’t happen to you.”

She paused and took another sip of her drink. She looked around at Mona’s kitchen.

“You’ve both been compensated very nicely for the exchange of some of the less comforting aspects of this town. I was straightforward with both of you about Beacon Guard and its importance. I would hope that if you had hesitations you would extend the same trust and honesty to me.”

Alison and Mona fought hard not to look at one another, because they didn’t want to look conspicuous. It was at that moment, the most inopportune moment, that Mona’s phone chimed.

 _Worst. Timing. Ever._ Mona wanted to throw her phone through the wall.

“Someone important?” Claire asked curiously.

“Only important people have my number.” Mona quipped back.

“You’re very clever. Of course, I knew that when I hired you. But I still failed to see the patterns of the glitches up until yesterday. The loops of doctored footage being fed back to Beacon Guard. The spoofed IP addresses and the hidden location accessing personal information by going through backdoor channels. You’ve been spying on me, Miss Vanderwaal.”

“Well, you haven’t exactly been playing by the rules. You talk about being transparent and I’d think that you would be, considering Beacon Guard was your idea.”

“It was a family effort.” Claire replied. “And the system works. The system…”

“…is crap.” Alison interrupted her. She was fed up with her riddles. “Why did you really create this system, Claire? Who are you spying on, and why?”

“It was never intended to be used to spy on anyone. It was put in place as a safety procedure…”

“With all due respect, safety went out the window when your son was thrown off of a rooftop in the middle of your town.”

“Alison.” Mona glanced at her in shock. That was a low blow, even for Alison.

But Alison kept her eyes locked in on Claire. She was looking for a certain reaction. When she saw the brief look of anger and grief flash across Claire’s face she knew that she wasn’t faking her emotions over her son’s death. She’d gotten the exact response that she wanted.

“You think that I don’t feel guilty? The system to protect him let him down. And that was on _me_. So, yes, I’m going to extreme lengths to find out who is responsible. Because my son deserved better.” She glanced at Mona. “Children shouldn’t suffer for the sins of their parents.”

Mona nearly dropped her mimosa.

“What did you say?” Mona asked.

Alison looked at the brunette, who was usually brimming with poise and dignity. Her face had blanched.

“What?” Alison mouthed to her in confusion.

“It’s what the note said, right?” Claire questioned.

“What is she talking about?” Alison frowned. “What note?”

“Did you write it?” Mona asked. Had _she_ done something to Emily?

Claire shook her head.

“I was informed about it. Dana is _very_ good at her job. You shouldn’t leave your personal effects of that high caliber of importance in your office, not even when it’s locked. That wording in particular struck a chord. It’s something my husband used to say to our kids when they were growing up. His father used to tell him that all the time.” Claire turned around, her face perfectly calm.

Mona kept her poker face. She refused to show her hand until she could get a read on Claire. Either the woman was completely clueless, or she was a sociopath who had been manipulating them and playing with them this whole time.

“Will someone tell me what the hell you two are talking about? What message?” Alison grabbed Mona’s phone, thinking that maybe the message Mona had just gotten would hold the answer.

What she found was far more chilling than whatever they were arguing about. At first glance she just saw Claire’s call log that Mona’s system had forwarded to her phone. She didn’t recognize the number of the person Claire had been on the phone with at the school, but there was a number in the history that jumped out at her. A number, the _only_ number, she knew by heart. She recognized the date, too. It was the last time she’d spoken to her.

Alison dropped Mona’s phone.

“Why is my wife’s number in your call history?” Her hands were shaking, a mixture of fear and rage.

“What?” Mona uttered in shock. She scrambled to pick up her phone and verify what Alison had seen.

“You were the last person to talk to her.” Alison moved towards Claire aggressively. “What did you say to her?” She backed her into a corner. “Where are they?”

“I have no idea what you’re…”

“What have you done to my family?” Alison yelled.

“I don’t know. I’m sorry, I don’t.”

“Don’t lie to me!” She felt like she was at the end of her rope. And it was about to snap and pop the shit out of someone’s eye.

“I’m not. It was a standard call to check the listed emergency number you have listed on your employment application. We check everyone’s to make sure it’s up to date…”

“Enough with the games, Claire. We caught you red handed. It’s over.” Mona backed Alison up.

“It’s not over.” Claire disagreed. “It’s not even close to over. You think I hold the power here? I don’t.”

They heard sirens in the distance. It was enough to cause a pause of confusion. They weren’t used to hearing sirens in Beacon Heights. The last time they heard sirens it was when Nolan died.

“Listen, Beacon Guard was designed…to…to keep him out. As long as you stay here, you’re safe.” Claire looked at the camera.

“What…from who? What are you talking about?” Alison asked.

“That night is such a haze. But I do remember one thing. The man was a psychopath.”

“What man?” Mona pushed.

“I never got his name,” Claire said. “I got the hell out and never looked back.” There was a pang of something on her face that Alison and Mona both recognized. A wounded look. She’d been hurt. Claire looked at Alison. “My time is almost up. The police will be here any second. I’m so sorry you were dragged into this, Alison. And I’m sorry for whatever happens next. But you have to understand, it had to be you. And it had to be like this. Otherwise it would draw too many…unwanted parties. If my daughter is truly alive, this might be the only way to get her back, to protect her…”

“I’m not talking about Taylor anymore. This is my _life_ we’re talking about here, Claire. So I’m going to ask you _one more time_ , where the hell is my family?”

Claire glanced at the blinking light on Beacon Guard on Mona’s wall. For a second, it looked like she was harboring hatred for it. She looked at Mona’s computer and then she looked at Alison and uttered one word.

“Checkmate.”

Alison felt her skin run cold. The hair on the back of her neck stood up.

“How…how did you…”

“Look at the algorithm again.” Claire looked at Mona.

Seconds later things descended into chaos. Doors flew open, cops swarmed in and surrounded them. They pushed Mona and Alison out of the way to get to Claire. She didn’t resist. A big brute of a man slapped cuffs on her rather roughly.

“Claire Hotchkiss, you’re under arrest for conspiring to cover up the death of your son, Nolan Hotchkiss, in addition to suspicion of first degree murder.” He started to lead her out as he read her rights to her.

“Mona, what the hell is happening?” Alison questioned as she watched the cops traipsing around the yard.

For the first time in her life, Mona had no clue. The cops only hung around long enough to ask a few questions about why Claire was there. Mona showed them the basket and told them about her promotion, which she wasn’t even sure was real, but she had Claire on camera saying it, so it’s not like they could call her out for it.

As soon as they left Mona dashed to her computer to pull up the chess app. Alison was next to her almost instantaneously. They were hoping for another message from Emily, but what Mona pulled up shocked them both.

“This algorithm that Emily used…she didn’t do it alone. She used a police grade system.” Mona cocked her head in confusion.

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Mona said, typing furiously. “But there is access here to…”

A file popped up on Mona’s computer. They looked at one another. It was a police report from Rosewood, dated from last night. All the tossing and turning Alison had done flashed through her mind. Her breathing started to become heavy. Mona clicked on the attached images. Alison jerked away, unable to look at the charred remains of the car. She saw the registration. She saw her name next to Emily’s. And she saw that there had been a body inside the car. Alison felt sweat droplets forming on her face. Her stomach was tight and tense. She made it to Mona’s sink and then she felt the vomit coming up.

“Ali…” Mona kicked her chair out and rushed up behind her. “We don’t know if that’s…”

“Her ring.” Alison clutched the side of Mona’s vomit-splashed sink. “She…she wouldn’t have taken it off. And…and you found it at that cabin. She…she wouldn’t have taken it off. Someone took it from her…”

She felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her. The room felt like it was closing in on her. Mona saw her going down. She put her arms out to catch her as she fell and then they were both on the floor.

Alison’s vision was black, but when her sight came back to her she was staring up at Mona’s ceiling. Her head was in the brunette’s lap. Mona was nervously stroking her hair.

“I never took you for a fainting kind of girl.” Mona looked down at her curiously.

“What happened?”

“You jumped to conclusions is what happened.” Mona shifted and helped her sit up.

Alison leaned up against the cabinet. She groaned and buried her head in between her knees, waiting for the dizziness to subside. When she lifted her head Mona had a glass of water in her hands ready for her. Alison took the glass and chugged the water.

“Listen, Claire told us about that for a reason. She must have known Emily contacted us,” Mona said.

“Yeah, and the second she found out that Emily knew she went after her…”

“Or she’s trying to lead us to her. Why else would she have given up the information?”

“To gloat? I don’t know. I don’t know what to think anymore.” Alison rubbed her eyebrow. “We’ve never gone this long without speaking,” she said softly. “She would never keep the girls from me…”

“But she would keep them away from danger, right?” Mona asked.

And suddenly Alison remembered,

_“I would give my life for our babies. They will always be safe with me, Ali.”_

“Taking care of them would have been her last act.” Alison nodded. She sighed, tears in her eyes. “She’s missing. She might be…”

“Don’t say it, Ali. You’re going to see your girls again. _All_ of your girls.”

Alison nodded weakly. She wasn’t so sure. She had no idea what was going to happen next. She thought about the empty look on Claire’s face when she talked about her family. She thought about the lengths that Claire had gone to in order to protect her children. It begged the question of how far Emily would go for their daughters.

A mother’s love was a powerful thing. It had the capacity to extend emotions beyond reason. It could push someone into wielding a weapon they’d never used before. A mother spurned was a dangerous enemy. And there was nothing a mother wouldn’t do to protect her child.

Claire Hotchkiss was no exception. Everything she’d done, she’d done in the name of her children. She stared out the window of a black unmarked police car. They were almost to their destination. She looked down at the red marks on her wrists.

“Were the cuffs _really_ necessary?” Claire huffed in irritation. She rubbed her fingers across the scuffs in her delicate wrists.

“You wanted us to sell it.” The man in the suit up front shrugged.

“The theatrics were a bit…over-the-top.” Claire frowned in disapproval.

The car pulled to a stop.

“Do you think they bought it?” He turned around.

“Of course they bought it.” Claire snapped.

The man nodded. He opened his door and disappeared down a walkway. A few seconds later the back door of the cruiser opened up. A young woman climbed in next to her. They stared at one another for several seconds.

“Hello, mother.” The girl spoke first.

“Taylor.” Claire stared at her daughter. There was a quiet pause and then Claire reached out to touch her face. Taylor jerked away from her. “Oh, sweetie…you should have stayed hidden.”

There was a flash on Taylor’s face, a vulnerable look that made her seem like she was a young child again.

“I…I tried. I really did. But then things…” She bit her lip. “I screwed up.” Her voice trembled. “I _really_ screwed up.” She rubbed her fingers together. “I need your help.”

“It’s okay.” Claire reached for her daughter’s cheek again. This time, Taylor didn’t pull away. “Mommy’s here now.”

* * *

 **A/N:** _Lots of familiar faces. Teeny lil Emison babes. Hanna is still Hanna. Booker and Tanner are RELATED? Does no one in Rosewood know how to keep it in their damn pants? Claire is...well, complicated. Mona and Alison are in a Nancy Drew book from hell. Someone else is dead. Some mysterious man has Claire running scared (or is she making it all up?). And Taylor looks great for a dead girl (looks like Ava wasn’t seeing things in a drunken haze that night at the bar). I think that about sums it up._

 


	7. Battle Scars

**A/N:** _Guess I’m trying to rival the actual show on how long it takes to get updates out. I do apologize for the wait (TWO WHOLE MONTHS? *smacks self*). This is what happens when you decide to work on multiple projects at once. I’ll try not to wait so long between updates again. Thanks for those still chugging along with me._

_Also, FYI, this chapter does deal with some sensitive material so tread carefully._

* * *

  **Chapter 7:**

**Battle Scars**

_“And in a stunning turn of events, Beacon Heights’ own Claire Hotchkiss was arrested under suspicion of murder. Hotchkiss is known to many citizens as a beloved philanthropist and a vital part of Beacon Heights University. Those closest to Hotchkiss immediately came to her defense with a legal team demanding swift action for her release. Bail was set and she was released…”_

Alison stared at the television, dumbfounded. She had been _released_? It hadn’t even been 24 hours and she was already out walking the streets again. It seemed unfair, especially given that when she lived in Rosewood she’d been locked up for a crime she hadn’t committed. They’d all but decided that she was guilty of murdering Mona and threw away the key before she had a fair trial.

Yet the police found significant evidence that Claire may have been involved in her son’s death, but she was just out…free to hobnob with the snobs in the hierarchy. Of course, no one knew the ugly truth: she’d never even seen the inside of the police station. Everything the public had seen was all for show. Claire Hotchkiss had the entire town in her pocket. Alison had caught on to that fact the second she met her. She also knew that it was possible that Claire knew the answers to what had happened to Emily and her girls.

_I am going to go vigilante on her ass._ Alison glared angrily at the screen. _I’m going to make her wish she WAS behind bars…_

The news reporter continued,

_“Hotchkiss maintains her innocence…”_

_Bullshit…_

_“_ … _though she can’t be reached directly for comment. A representative for Mrs. Hotchkiss says that she is trying to stay out of the spotlight. It’s believed that she isn’t staying at her estate, but rather at a more private residence…”_

“Alison, what are you watching?” Spencer squawked in her ear from 3000 miles away.

Alison pulled the phone away from her ear, having momentarily forgotten that Spencer had called her. She barely remembered picking up the phone. In fact, after Mona had gone to comb the cabin where she’d found Emily’s ring Alison had been on autopilot.

The first thing she’d done was call the Rosewood police department. She thought maybe if she pumped the right person for information she could find out more about the burned out car. It made her sick to her stomach to think that the body could be Emily. She’d put a call in to Barry Maple. He’d been a friend of Emily’s family for years. She’d chosen her words carefully, telling him that it was urgent, but in the message she told him it was about an academic matter. She didn’t want to tip off anyone who might be listening.

“Ali, are you still there?” Spencer questioned. “Caitlin Park-Lewis?”

Alison finally muted the television.

“What about her?”

“Are you paying attention to anything I’ve been saying?” Spencer sounded annoyed. “She applied for an internship with my mom’s campaign. She listed you as a reference.”

“Right.” Alison nodded. She vaguely recalled Caitlin asking her the first week of school if she could use her as a reference, because she knew that Alison knew Spencer. “She’s very smart. Determined. Really headstrong.”

She was still watching the muted television. There was a headshot of Claire hovering over a newscaster’s desk as they talked about her.

“You said that already. What sets her apart from everyone else? Her mothers are very prominent and we can’t look like we’re playing favorites here.”

“She’s probably the highest achieving student at this school. And that’s saying a lot. She strives for perfection. She actually reminds me a lot of you. She is smart enough to know when she needs to say something and when she needs to listen. And her IQ is off the charts.”

“There was something in her history. A cheating scandal of some kind? It didn’t hit the press, but it’s easily accessible if you look hard enough.”

Alison cringed. She thought about what Caitlin had told her about how bad it would be for her moms if the truth about that got out.

“I don’t know anything about that. But Caitlin is a very honest person. She has integrity and keeps a cool head. Even if it were true, how can you make waves about that? Didn’t you plagiarize your sister’s paper in high school?”

“Fair enough. What about the Hotchkiss family drama? I know she was close with Nolan. Weren’t they dating?”

“Nolan ran with certain circles. She just happened to be in his orbit. I wouldn’t judge her for it. You certainly know how it feels to be judged by the company you keep. My reign of terror in high school made that a huge part of your life.” Alison stared at the television. The picture of Claire was now between a picture of Nolan and one of Taylor. “Listen, she’s a great candidate.”

Alison had selfish motives for wanting Caitlin to get the job. She wanted to get the kid the hell out of Beacon Heights.

“Okay.” Spencer sounded convinced. “I’ll keep her as a prospect.”

Alison was too busy reading the captions on the television to respond.

_“The Hotchkiss family is no stranger to tragedy. Claire Hotchkiss’s daughter Taylor committed suicide…”_

“Hey, Spence, have you talked to Emily?”

“We had lunch a few weeks ago. But other than that I haven’t really been in town and I know she’s been busy with the girls. Why?”

“Was she acting weird?”

“Weird how?”

“I don’t know. Different? Did she seem worried or stressed…”

“You moved halfway across the country. Of course she seemed stressed.”

“Did she say anything or allude to any problems or anything?”

“Why? Are you two having problems?” Spencer asked.

“No.” Alison bit back angrily. She didn’t like people calling her relationship into question. “I mean…no different than normal.” She paused and sighed. “Maybe. I don’t know. We were…” She frowned. “We were working on some things.”

“Hey, she loves you. You have nothing to worry about.”

_Oh, if you only knew…_

“She’s still the same old Emily. In fact, when we met up all she could talk about was you. She was worried about you.”

Alison felt tears burning her eyes. Her valiantly brave protector was still looking out for her from across the country. The thought of something happening to her…

“From the sounds of it, Beacon Heights is turning into another Rosewood…”

“No. It’s nothing like that.” Alison lied.

The last thing she wanted to do was rope her friends into the mess that was Beacon Heights. The place was a disaster.

“You do realize that you can’t lie worth shit anymore, right?” Spencer called her out. “We’ve been following the news. And Hanna talked to Mona. Mona said the same thing you’re telling me. So what _aren’t_ you telling us? What’s going on?”

Alison stared at Beacon Guard, a hatred burning through her soul, staring directly at whoever was watching her. She slowly moved her hand up towards the blinking light and raised her middle finger, flipping the bird at it.

“Emily has the propensity to get overly concerned.” Alison bit her lip.

“But it sounds like she has a reason to be concerned. What’s going on with Nolan Hotchkiss’s case?”

“I’m staying out of it.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Spencer, I have no interest in endangering my family. I’m not about to do something stupid that could come back on them. If you don’t believe that, I don’t know what else to tell you.”

And Spencer _did_ believe her. Because it was the truth. If she ran her mouth and the wrong person heard her that could spell disaster for everyone she loved.

“I guess it’s not hard to fall back into old habits and patterns.” Spencer replied. “I think we’re all just a little jittery with you being so far away.”

“You’re in DC.” Alison pointed out. “Aria is in California. We’re all far away.”

“But we’re with our families.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Alison puffed up defensively.

The guilt she felt for not doing things the “traditional” way weighed heavily upon her sometimes. She was sensitive to anything that made her feel like she was abandoning her family. Because essentially, her parents had abandoned her. And she hated that she might leave her girls with the same complex.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Spencer tried to calm her down. “I just meant that we have someone watching our backs. I’ve got Toby. Hanna has Caleb…”

“I’ve got Mona.” She’d said it so sincerely that she even surprised herself.

“If you’re trusting Mona Vanderwaal to watch your back I hope you’ve got a good insurance policy,” Spencer spouted sarcastically.

“You know better than anyone she’s not the same person she was back then.”

Spencer sighed. Alison heard shuffling on the other end of the line. She could practically see Spencer rubbing the bridge of her nose.

_You always did hate the idea of not being in control, didn’t you, Spence?_

That’s when Alison got an idea. Spencer had once deciphered a code left in place by Mona years ago in a mental institution. The last thing she wanted to do was put Spencer in any danger. But perhaps there was a way to let her know what was going on without Beacon Guard being triggered. But was it truly safe? After all, Claire had somehow figured out Mona’s system. Claire was the one who told them where to look to find the police report of the burned out vehicle. Still, she trusted that Mona would figure out a way to make the chess app secure.

She had to stop and think about that.

She _trusted_ Mona.

“I’m actually learning a lot from her.” Alison picked up a glass of wine she’d poured for herself to calm her nerves. She swirled the liquid around. “She’s really good at chess. I’m learning how to play. You should check out her app.”

Spencer didn’t exactly take the hint.

“So, you’re hanging out with Mona, day drinking, and playing chess while there is an active murder investigation going on. You _have_ changed.”

“I just assumed I was too old to drop it like it’s hot. I am at the point in my life where I like to sit down like its warm.”

There was a beat. And then Spencer scoffed.

“Are you drunk?”

“I’ve had a few glasses of wine.”

“A few glasses or a few bottles?”

“The point is that I’m tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Aren’t you tired of living in the past?”

“Our past is a part of us, Alison. It’s a part of you. It’s a part of Emily. It always will be. She hides her scars better than most of us, but they’re still there. And that makes her concerns valid. Of course she’s going to worry. And rightfully so. After everything we went through…” Spencer grit her teeth thinking about all the torture they’d endured over the years. “You can’t be too careful. I’d be lying if I said Toby and I don’t talk about it. Even though it’s been years since everything happened we both still wake up in the morning wondering if something terrible is going to happen…”

Alison felt her stomach clench.

_Something terrible HAS happened…_

She wanted to talk to Spencer about it so badly. She wanted her friends. She wanted her family. But all she could think about was all the warnings she’d seen over the past several days.

_“They’re watching!”_

_“Not safe.”_

_“Stop digging.”_

Emily was already missing, and Alison had a terrible feeling that something awful had happened to her. If she was still alive there was no telling what would happen to her if she brought her friends into it.

“I know we’ve come a long way from looking over our shoulders at every turn, but what we went through is never far from my mind. It’s hard not to think about worst case scenarios. I talked to Emily about it, too.” Spencer admitted.

“What did she say?”

There was a pause on the line. There was a fine air of appreciation on Spencer’s end.

“She listened. That’s what Em does. She listens. She’s better than any therapist I’ve ever been to. She let me vent. We just talked about life. I asked about the girls and she asked about how Toby and I were doing. We spent a few hours catching up. She’s just that kind of person. It doesn’t matter how long we go without talking. When we get together we’re still family.”

Alison felt herself tearing up again. Emily was such a pillar of strength for everyone in her life. Sometimes Alison forgot that Emily needed someone to be the rock for her.

“She gushed about you and the twins a lot. I think she worries about what would happen if something happened to her. We talked about all the close calls we’ve had. And she mentioned she wants to make sure you’re all taken care of in an emergency. She asked me if I knew a good estate attorney. She wanted to make sure your wills were in order…”

Alarm bells went off in Alison’s mind. Why would Emily have been talking about anything happening to her?

“She _what_?” Alison tried not to let her panic bleed through.

“It’s pretty standard stuff to think about, especially when you have kids. And you’re not exactly close by. I think our conversation just stirred up a bunch of her old fears.”

_Or new ones._

What if Emily had known something bad was going to happen? What if she’d felt that precursor? She’d always had a knack for knowing things, a sixth sense. Alison tried to stay cool. She didn’t want to set off Spencer’s radar.

“Did you happen to give her a name?”

“I did. My dad. He’s practicing strictly estate affairs these days.”

Peter Hastings and the word “affairs” in the same sentence made Alison want to gag. His sordid history lingered in the air like a poisonous cloud.

“And he’s local.” Spencer added.

“Do you know if she went to see him?”

“I can find out. Or you can give him a call.”

“A DiLaurentis calling a Hastings is bound to end badly. You know he hates me.”

“He doesn’t _hate_ you. He just…looks at your brother and he can’t help but think about how your family is connected to ours. He hates himself for what he did to my mom. And he still hasn’t forgiven himself what he _didn’t_ do for Jason. He knows he had a miserable upbringing because…” She stopped herself.

“Because my dad was an asshole and treated him like a redheaded stepchild. You can say it. I know it.”

“How is our brother, by the way?”

“He emailed me a few days ago. He’s in Africa again, building housing for the poor.”

“He’s putting us to shame. We’re just sitting here in the states enjoying luxuries like indoor plumbing and electricity.”

“And murder cases.” Alison added with a dark laugh.

“Good old America.” Spencer snorted.

“Sometimes I think Emily and I should have just eloped to Paris and never looked back,” Alison sighed.

Something in her tone worried Spencer.

“Hey, are you sure everything is okay?”

“Yeah.” Alison replied softly. “I just…I miss everyone.”

“We miss you, too.”

“I’ve got to run.” Alison looked at her wine glass. She felt like downing what was left in one fell swoop. “If you get bored check out the chess app. I’d love to have someone on my level. Mona can kick my ass.”

“She can kick all of our asses.”

“That still annoys you, doesn’t it?”

“My IQ is still higher than hers.” Spencer uttered.

“Pettiness is not a good look on you.”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“Bye, Spence.”

“Bye, Ali.”

After they hung up Alison searched through her phone. She had Peter Hastings listed as an emergency contact under Spencer’s name. Her finger hovered over the call button for a few seconds, but she pulled away at the last second. She could talk to Spencer while she was drunk. But she needed to talk to Spencer’s dad with a clear head.

She unmuted the television. The news anchors were still talking about Claire. It was such a huge scandal. Not to mention there wasn’t anything else going on in town. Beacon Guard made sure of that.

Alison picked up her wine glass, hating herself for falling into such a terrible habit. She knew she should be out somewhere searching for Emily. She knew she needed to be spying on her students, or even confronting Claire. But the thought of getting closer to answers scared the hell out of her. Because she was afraid she wasn’t going to like what she found. She was afraid Emily was already dead, that she was too late, that she’d screwed up. And she couldn’t do anything with the fucking security system watching her every move. She had to figure out a way to reach out for help without putting people in danger.

She fell into a spiral of self-hatred for a few hours. She scrolled through her phone, trying to find every last picture of her wife and children that she had of them. She found a picture she’d taken a few days before she’d left. It was of Emily and the twins. Emily had crawled into Lily’s bed and had fallen asleep reading them a bedtime story. Grace was curled up on one side and Lily was curled up on her other side, her little cheek resting against Emily’s shoulder. Grace’s tiny fingers were curled against Emily’s shirt, clutching it in her sleep. Emily had both of her arms curled around the twins protectively.

“I’ll find you, baby.”

She stared at the photo until her eyesight became blurry with tears. She wasn’t really sure how long she cried. It was only when she heard a thunderous knock at her door that she snapped out of it.

She leaped off of the couch, thinking that maybe it was Mona. She rushed to open the door. But when she swung it open she saw two uniformed officers standing there. She had flashes to being arrested at her house the night she’d been taken in for Mona’s murder. Linda Tanner had been so smug about the whole thing. Alison hated that woman. She hated her almost as much as Dana Booker.

When the officers didn’t advance she relaxed her stance.

“Can I help you?” Alison asked.

“Mrs. DiLaurentis-Fields?” The officer questioned.

He had a strange somber look on his face.

Alison’s eyes widened. She took a step back from the door, muttering ‘no’ over and over again. She had a terrible feeling she knew what it was about.

“No? You’re _not_ Alison DiLaurentis-Fields?”

“No…yeah, that’s…me. Her. I’m her.” All of the basic words she’d learned in preschool seemed to be the only words she knew. “What…what’s this about?”

“You’re the wife of Emily DiLaurentis-Fields?”

Alison felt all of the air leave her lungs. She opened her mouth to respond, but all that came out was a squeak. She nodded.

“I’m very sorry to have to tell you this, but your wife was in an accident…”

She felt a sharp jolt in her chest.

“Stop.” Alison cried. “I don’t…I can’t…”

“The vehicle was badly damaged…”

The horrible images that Alison had seen attached to the police file flashed in her mind. She’d been holding out hope that it wasn’t her wife.

Alison didn’t hear anything the police were saying to her. At one point they led her over to the couch to sit her down. She didn’t remember the walk from the door to her living room. She turned to ask one of the cops a question, but then felt her vision getting fuzzy. She told the officer she felt like she was passing out, and then she was in the dark.

She felt trapped in her own body, and the alcohol she’d consumed hadn’t helped. Her soul felt like it was trying to claw its way out.

What finally jerked her body out of the dark abyss was an icy sensation hitting her face. Seconds later she felt a hard smack, the palm of a hand.

“Alison, wake up!”

Alison shot up off of the sofa, panting and covered in the cold water that Mona had doused her with. She frantically looked around the room for the police, but they were gone. The television was still on, but it wasn’t on the news anymore. It was some melodramatic court show.

“Mona, what are you doing here? How did you get in?”

Mona gave her a look that reminded her of how stupid of a question it was. She was _Mona_. How did she do anything?

“Are you seriously asking me that?” Mona asked.

Alison grabbed her phone and saw the call timer from where she’d spoken with Spencer.

“What are you doing?” Mona peered at her in confusion.

“The…the police…”

Surely they wouldn’t have left her unconscious. At the very least they would have called the medics. Had she imagined the whole thing?

“If the police had been here it would have been all over my scanner…and the news.”

“But…they were…they said Emily was in the car…”

“Alison, no one has been here. I have the same system set up here that I have at my place. Nothing was triggered.”

“Wait, you’ve been spying on me?”

“How else do you expect me to keep you safe? Can we keep things in perspective here?”

“Why are you here?” Alison grabbed her glasses from the end table. She rubbed her eyes before putting them on.

“Well, the head of the school was arrested for murder yesterday and your wife and daughters are missing.” Mona reminded her with a catty attitude. “Did you hit your head or just…” she glanced at the empty wine bottle, “…drink an entire liquor store?”

“I’m well aware of the buzz in this town. I don’t need a recap from a secondhand wannabe reporter.”

“That’s harsh considering how many times I’ve saved your ass.”

Mona was certain if she was in a relationship with Alison she would want to smother her in her sleep. She didn’t know how Emily did it.

“Why is it that every time we’re in the same city one or both of us _needs_ our asses to be saved? You ever wondered if it’s the world telling us to live on opposite sides of the world? Maybe the universe is trying to tell us something.”

“My God, you’re a surly drunk. How does Emily deal with your bullshit?”

For the first time in a long time, Alison smiled. Because when she drank with Emily they always had amazing sex. Alcohol made them both horny as hell. And they were both control freaks, so it always turned into a heated physical tryst. Emily was very domineering and handsy. And Alison was bossy and dominating.

_God, I miss sex._

She missed her wife. It wasn’t enough that she didn’t have Emily holding her and telling her that everything was going to be okay. She was stressed beyond belief and she had an insurmountable amount of pressure building from the inside. She could try to relieve the pressure herself, but she knew it wouldn’t last. Because Emily gave her something she couldn’t give herself. Fulfillment. Love.

Alison rubbed her temples, trying to fight off the hangover. Getting drunk was a stupid idea and she regretted it.

“Just…forget about it. Did you find anything at the cabin?” Alison looked up to meet Mona’s gaze. She was afraid of the answer.

“Maybe if you ask me nicely I’ll tell you.”

Alison glared daggers at her. Mona had an impish smile on her face.

“Tell me you’re sorry.”

“I’m sorry,” Alison said flatly, saying it only to humor her.

“Tell me you love me.”

“Don’t push it.” Alison warned her. “What did you find?”

“Nothing more about Emily, but I did find something.” Mona plopped her bag down on the table. She pulled out a clear plastic bag with red tape that said “evidence”.

“Did you steal that from the police station?” Alison questioned.

“Dana Booker isn’t the only one who can snoop through things. I swiped her keycard and made a copy.”

Alison felt a sense of satisfaction knowing that Mona had gone through Booker’s things without getting caught. And now they had a way into the police station if they needed one.

“They didn’t have much in the way of Nolan’s murder, or Taylor’s suicide. I think Claire was able to get to the cops to get rid of those files. But I did find a mold of a shoeprint from outside the cabin. I’m not really sure who called it in. The call is listed as anonymous, but someone filed a report for vandalism.”

She opened the evidence bag and slid out a photograph that had a shoeprint in the soft mud outside the cabin. There were tape measures in the picture. Alison cocked her head and looked at the picture.

“I made a copy before I put the original back. Normally, we wouldn’t have anything to go off of, because shoeprints are a dime a dozen. But thanks to the knowledge yours truly has about footwear…” Mona motioned to herself. “I never forget a brand and size and shape like that. This particular Jimmy Choo was handcrafted specially.” She looked at Alison. “For none other than Claire Hotchkiss.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely positive.”

“She was at the cabin?”

“She was at the cabin. And this is our proof.” Mona smiled. “We’ve got her on the ropes, Ali.”

“Mona, I take back everything bad I’ve ever said about you.” Alison grabbed the photo. Now they had proof that Claire had talked to Emily on the phone before she disappeared _and_ proof that she’d been in the same place where Emily’s ring had been found. “I love you.”

“See? Was that so hard?”

Alison’s phone chimed and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She grabbed it, hoping to see Emily’s name. Her hopes were dashed when she saw it was a message from Ava.

_“Have some questions about the assignment. Is it okay if we meet?”_

Alison grimaced and then groaned. Her head was pounding. She was still trying to get over her nightmare. Not to mention she was trying to come to terms with the fact that Claire Hotchkiss knew a lot more than she was letting on. She stared at Ava’s message.

_What now? I am way too tired and I haven’t had any caffeine._

But that’s not what she wrote back to Ava.

_“I’ll be at the lake gathering research for a lesson at the docks.”_ One of the docks was in a dead zone, and she knew that Ava would know which one thanks to Mona’s maps. _“One hour.”_

_“See you soon.”_

Mona read the messages over her shoulder.

“Something tells me that she’s not actually doing schoolwork on a Saturday.”

“I gave them my number for emergencies.” She looked at Beacon Guard and then at Mona. “Academic and _nonacademic_.” She emphasized “nonacademic” so Mona would know she was referring to their investigation.

“Ah.” Mona nodded in understanding.

“I’m going to take a quick shower.” Alison stood up.

“Brush your teeth. It smells like something died in your mouth.”

Alison casually raised her middle finger at Mona as she walked out of the room. Mona smirked. Sassy Alison always made her laugh.

Alison felt a little more in control after her shower. She always felt better after she’d had time to think. She knew that they were getting closer to the truth. And that meant she was getting closer to finding out what happened to her wife.

She got to the docks early and was not surprised to find Ava already there. The young girl was sitting out by the water, staring off into the distance. Alison recognized the longing look in her eyes. She was grieving. Nolan had been a lot of things, but he’d meant something to Ava. She sighed heavily and lowered her head. Alison let her have a few moments to herself before she walked up behind her.

“Ava?”

“Hey.” Ava stood up. “I didn’t hear you coming. Sorry.”

Years of being on the run had taught Alison a level of stealth that most people didn’t have.

“You don’t have to apologize. It’s okay to miss him.”

Ava sighed again.

“He loved to swim. He was always at home in the water.” Ava looked at the lake again.

Alison smiled. She knew how that felt. Emily had always been so comfortable in the water.

“We used to come out here at night when no one else was around. It was just our time. He was…different with me. I thought it was because he loved me…”

“I’m sure he did.” Alison smiled warmly at her.

If she’d learned anything about guarded people it’s that when they loved someone, they loved them with everything in their soul. She’d been one of the most horrid high schoolers in the world, but when she was with Emily something inside of her changed. She got the feeling it was the same with Nolan and Ava. She looked at the younger brunette and she saw a heavy sadness in her. It made her look like a child. She wasn’t that much younger than Alison, but Alison could see every bit of youth in her at the moment.

“I’m sorry to bother you on the weekend, but you said if we ever came across anything important to call you. I don’t know if it’s anything, but yesterday I found something tucked away in a panel near the security system in my room.” She pulled a small USB drive out of her pocket. “I think he hid it at my place because he knew no one would think to look there. And…I kind of hope he trusted me well enough that he wanted me to find it.”

“What’s on it?” Alison asked.

“Something that could incriminate Claire Hotchkiss.” Ava’s eyes darkened when she said the name. She had her mind set on the fact that Claire had done something to Nolan. “She found something out the night he died. There is an exchange of text messages he had with someone a few hours before he was killed. I’m pretty sure it was Claire. Maybe from one of her burner phones. They were arguing. He referenced his dad a few times. He could be a real dick when he was angry. He kept threatening to tell his dad something. He kept asking what would happen if he knew the truth.”

“Did he say what it was about?”

“No.” Ava shook her head. “But there is an encrypted file on the drive, too. I thought maybe Mona could try and get into it.” She handed the drive to Alison.

“How did you find it?” Alison questioned.

“Nolan told me.”

Alison looked at her in concern, but Ava quickly explained.

“Months ago. He said something about it, but I wasn’t really paying attention at the time. It only came up because I had a dream about it last night.” She sighed. “Have you ever had a memory feel so real that you’re sure it isn’t a memory at all, but reality?”

“Yeah.” Alison nodded. “I can relate to that.”

She’d had so many fever dreams about everything she’d been through in high school that it was hard for her to keep up with what was real and what was just a dream.

She ran her fingers over the USB drive.

“Do you know where Claire is?” Alison asked.

Ava stared at the lake again. But then she slowly faced Alison.

“The Hotchkiss family has a safe house. It’s secluded and very few people know about it. Nolan took me there a few times. That’s probably where she’s hiding. It’s a few miles out.”

She gave Alison the directions and then thanked her for meeting her. She was more subdued than Alison was used to seeing. It was a bit worrisome to see the fire in her eyes barely flickering. It’s like she was drowning even though there was air all around her. Alison reached out and touched her shoulder.

“Ava…” Alison called for her attention. “It gets better.”

“That’s what everyone keeps telling me.” Ava shrugged.

“Do you want a ride back to town?”

“No. Dylan is waiting on me. He didn’t want me coming out here alone. Can never be too careful.”

Alison nodded in agreement. She’d actually ridden out with Mona. She clutched the USB in her hand.

“Thank you for this,” Alison said.

“I just hope it puts an end to this. I want to give Nolan the justice he deserves.”

“We’ll find out what happened to him. I promise.”

Ava gave her a tentative smile. They said their goodbyes and Alison walked back to where she’d parked. Mona was on her laptop, typing something. Alison climbed into the car. She explained what Ava had found. Mona all but ripped the USB drive out of Alison’s hand. She started working on the file immediately. She found the messages. They skimmed through them. They said exactly what Ava had told Alison they said. Mona used a program to help her decrypt the file that Ava had been unable to access.

When they were able to get into the file they both stared at it, speechless.

The file contained bloodwork and DNA profiles for Nolan and Taylor. Mona read through the results, which showed that while they had a few identifying markers…they didn’t share the same DNA sequence. They were related, but they didn’t have the same parents.

“Holy shit.” Mona muttered.

“This has to be what Nolan was threatening Claire with. If he found out that his mother cheated on his father…”

“It could also be the driving factor that made Taylor want to kill herself…or fake her death. If she knew about this it could have been the spark that ignited the flame in her mind.” Mona nodded.

They looked at one another.

“We have to make a move.” Alison turned Mona’s laptop towards her. “The police can’t ignore this.”

“If we turn it over to the police Claire’s very good buddy Booker will just make it disappear.”

“Why are they protecting her?” Alison grumbled angrily.

“Maybe there is more to the story.” Mona suggested.

“I hardly see how that matters. If we can’t trust the police to do their jobs, then what good is the evidence? How are we supposed to get people to see what is right in front of them?”

There was a beat of silence.

“We put something out there that they can’t ignore.” Mona smiled, a spark in her eyes. She reached into the backseat for her bag and started rooting through it. She pulled a small black wi-fi microphone out of it. “How do you feel about entrapment?”

“You just…have an entire spy kit in your bag?” Alison lifted a brow with intrigue.

“Please.” Mona rolled her eyes. “Who are you talking to?”

Alison took the little electronic device.

“So…it just…records what she says?”

“Not only that.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a small button with a pin on it. “This has a video feed that uploads directly to a database that only _I_ have access to. If we get her on camera, we can broadcast it on Beacon Guard. Then the cops will _have_ to listen. We just have to find her first.”

“I know where she is.” Alison started the car. “Let’s put an end to this.” She was so ready to get her wife back.

They rode out to Claire’s cabin, parking about a quarter of a mile away in the woods. They didn’t want to alert anyone to their presence. Mona hooked up the small electronics to Alison. Alison was impressed with how well it blended in to her every day attire. No one would be able to tell anything was amiss.

Mona explained the plan one more time. Alison told her she understood. As she was climbing out of the car, Mona grabbed her hand.

“Alison, if you feel like _anything_ might go wrong get out of there,” she warned her. “Nothing is worth your life. You have two babies who need you.”

Alison nodded and smiled appreciatively at Mona.

“And remember if something does happen and you are trapped just give me an SOS.”

“I got it.” Alison replied. She paused and then looked back at Mona. “Thank you for having my back.”

“Of course.”

Alison waved to Mona and then made her way to Claire’s house. She was surprised to find it unguarded and fairly accessible. She realized they’d probably done that so it wouldn’t stand out. She crept up on to the back porch and peered inside. The house looked dark. Maybe Ava had been wrong about Claire hiding out here.

She quietly crept around the perimeter. There was a large pool in the backyard illuminated by green lights that gave the whole area a strange outer space vibe. It didn’t look like anyone had used the area lately.

She tiptoed around the side of the house. All the lights inside were off, except one small automatic light that was shining in the kitchen. She thought about going inside to see if maybe she could find any other clues. She weighed the pros and cons, worried about how ‘breaking and entering’ may affect not only her life, but her family’s lives. After debating with herself she decided it couldn’t hurt to take a quick look inside.

She went to pick the lock on the side door, but was surprised to find it unlocked. She quietly opened the door and slipped inside. The light from the kitchen was casting just enough of a glow in the living room that Alison could see the family photos on the wall. She stopped to peer at one of Nolan and Taylor when they were little, probably both younger than ten. Nolan was sitting in a chair and Taylor was standing up behind him. They both had forced smiles on their faces.

“They were both cranky because Nolan had been up all night with an ear infection.” A voice startled Alison.

Alison jumped in surprise. A light came on and she saw Claire sitting on the sofa with a glass of what Alison assumed to be white wine in her hands.

“I was wondering when you’d show up.” Claire didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see her. “I assume it was you who tripped my silent alarm.” She took a sip of her alcohol. “Not even the police know about that. It was Taylor’s design.”

Alison didn’t move. She just stared at Claire.

“It’s very bold of you to show up here.” Claire smiled as she climbed to her feet.

“I’m a bold woman. You knew that when you hired me.”

“I did.” She put her wine glass down and moved towards Alison.

Alison still didn’t move.

“You think you know me.” Claire closed the distance between them.

It was a power move. Her motion made Alison feel an internal rage. She didn’t like being boxed in. She moved quick, almost snake-like, moving to get behind Claire so that Claire was the one trapped. Claire seemed surprised by her motion, but didn’t react.

“I don’t care _who_ you are, Claire. I’m done playing your games.” Alison huffed angrily, her breaths coming out heated and fast. “Where is my wife? I swear to God if you’ve done something to her…”

“Why is it that you’re so insistent that I’ve done something to her?”

“ _You_ called her before she fell off of the radar. _You_ gave us the intel to hack into Rosewood PD. Our car was burned to a crisp. _You_ knew that.”

“The car had your name on the registration. It’s the only reason I told you to look into it.”

“How did you even know about it?”

“I was contacted by law enforcement because I’m your employer. They had a few questions about you. Nothing more.”

“So why not just tell me about it?”

“I was told it was an ongoing investigation and that I shouldn’t say anything.”

“Whose body was it?”

Claire shrugged.

“I think you’re lying.” Alison frowned.

“And I think you’ve already made up your mind about me.” She frowned. “It’s kind of disappointing. I would think that you’d be in favor of the way our justice system works. Innocent until proven guilty. After all, you and I share something in common.” Claire looked at her coolly.

“Is this the part where you tell me you’re innocent?” Alison asked snidely. “Tell me that you know I’ll understand because I was accused of a crime I didn’t commit?” She shook her head angrily. “It’s not even remotely the same thing. The difference between you and me is that I was actually innocent.”

“Let’s skip this song and dance. Why don’t you just come right out and ask me what you want to know?”

Alison tried not to run her fingers over the button that held the microscopic camera. She had a weird subconscious desire to touch it.

“Did you kill Nolan?”

There was a beat of silence. Claire traced her fingers over the frame of the picture of her children.

“No.”

“So it’s just a coincidence that he happened to die on the same night he figured out that he was only Taylor’s _half_ brother?”

That threw Claire for a loop. She hadn’t been expecting it. Alison knew what was going through her mind, because she’d experienced the same thing when she’d found out that Jason was only her half brother. The parallels to what was happening in Beacon Heights was drudging up a lot of eerie similarities to Rosewood. It was just more proof that she hadn’t just been hired out of coincidence.

“Who told you that?” Claire stuttered.

“It’s true, isn’t it?”

“You have _no_ right to ask me that.”

Her tone changed drastically from coy to rage. It’s like a trigger had been sparked inside of her. It solidified the theory that Claire had something to do with what happened to her children.

“I want you out of my house.” Claire growled. “Get out before I call the police.”

Her rage turned to a strange desperation that Alison had never seen in her before.

Alison kept her tone even, but she didn’t move.

“I am not leaving until I know the truth. You say you’re innocent, but there is a lot of evidence that says otherwise.”

Including the fact that Claire had been at the cabin where Emily’s ring had been found. Alison was withholding that information on purpose. She didn’t want Claire to know what they had on her.

Claire looked at Alison angrily, like the blonde was violating her in some way. She hastily paced over to where she’d left her drink. She grabbed the glass and took a large gulp, which would have been considered the opposite of classy. Claire started wringing her hands together. Alison assumed it was because her guilt was eating away at her. She had no idea it was something much worse.

Claire picked up a picture that was sitting on the end table. Alison moved closer and saw that it was a picture of Claire holding a baby in the hospital. She sighed and looked at Alison, a strange expression of defeat in her eyes.

“There is so much more to my story than anyone knows, Alison. I need to know…” She put the picture down. “I need to know that what I tell you doesn’t leave this room. This has to stay between us.”

“Fine,” Alison said without skipping a beat. She didn’t care how she got Claire to talk, as long as she got what she needed for the police.

Claire nodded silently and took another drink of her wine, polishing it off. She ran her tongue over her teeth as she drifted off in thought.

“We have more in common than you think,” Claire finally made eye contact with her again. “Especially when it comes to motherhood…”

“There are millions of mothers out there.”

“Not as many that have the same history that you and I have. You see, we both had children that were…” She tried to think of the right way to phrase it, “…unplanned.”

“So?”

“In the worst sense possible…” Claire continued. She flinched. It wasn’t a big tic, but it was enough that Alison caught it. “I know the truth about your children, Alison. Dana told me.”

_Fucking Dana Booker_.

“I love my girls,” Alison argued.

“And I loved my children, too,” Claire said. “I loved them more than anything. But Taylor’s…conception…” She wasn’t really sure how else to put it into words, “…it was…problematic.”

Alison saw something in her eyes. Something she recognized.

“What do you mean?”

“You, of all people, know what it’s like when the choice is taken away from you…when you’re violated…stripped down to someone you don’t even recognize…to have something taken away that you can never get back…”

It finally clicked for Alison. Claire had gotten pregnant with Taylor…against her will. Suddenly the conversation she’d heard Claire having on the recordings made sense.

_“If this gets out…”_

It would have changed her life. If people knew the truth, her entire family would be in the spotlight. It would have caused her children a great deal of pain. Claire had decided to shoulder that burden on her own.

“Are you saying that you were…” Alison asked in shock.

Claire nodded and looked away, unable to hold eye contact. She stared at her empty glass.

“I remember the smell of his cologne. It was so strong. To this day when I smell someone wearing it I find the nearest bathroom and throw up.”

Alison walked over towards her and tentatively reached out to touch her arm. She felt a desire to let her know that she wasn’t alone. She knew that Claire would say anything to throw suspicion off of herself, but there was something about the sincerity in her tone that told Alison she was telling the truth.

“Claire…I had no idea.”

“Yes, well, one doesn’t tend to broadcast these things. You certainly didn’t.”

Alison sighed, looking at the ground. She’d been through an extensive amount of counseling. She and Emily both had. She’d suffered from postpartum depression right after the girls were born. She loved them, but she felt like a shell of who she used to be. And she knew it was because of the way they were conceived.

It had taken her a long time to come to terms with what had happened to her. It clung to her. It was a part of her that she couldn’t scrub away no matter how hard she tried. Eventually, it had just become another part of her. A scar to add to her collection. She often wondered if part of the reason she wanted to get away from Rosewood was because she was still running from that memory. Had she been suffocating without realizing it?

But then she remembered how much she loved Emily and her daughters. She remembered that she would kill for them…she would die for them. And she got the feeling that it was the same for Claire.

“So, who…”

“I don’t know. It was dark and I was drunk.” Claire cut her off. “I only know that he was a _very_ dangerous man. This city…Beacon Guard…it was designed to keep people like _him_ out. The idea that Taylor had…this idea for a safety net of this proportion, it came from the same genes who created the sense of fear in me in the first place. Do you know how that feels?”

“Does anyone else know about this?”

“Does anyone know the truth about your girls?” Claire asked.

That hit a nerve in Alison, which is exactly what Claire was trying to do. It was a reminder that it was Claire’s pain to own. Only she had the right to determine how to carry it.

“What about your husband?” Alison asked. She couldn’t imagine having to get through the pain of her assault without Emily by her side. Had Claire done it alone?

“I never told my husband,” Claire said. “When I found out I was pregnant I just let him assume Taylor was his. It was easier that way. It was easier to be someone who was quiet and didn’t make waves. I didn’t want him to come back. I didn’t want anything to happen to her.” She fought back tears. “I spent my entire pregnancy feeling isolated…alone. I was terrified that when I gave birth I wouldn’t be able to do it…that I wouldn’t be able to look at her face without thinking of that night.”

Alison felt her throat tightening as she fought her own tears. She’d felt the same way when she was pregnant. She had been so afraid that she would look at her babies and wouldn’t be able to see anything but the way they were conceived. She was terrified the pain would overshadow the beauty of her children.

“But then she was born...and I held her in my arms. And she was so small. And so fragile. And I looked at her, and I only saw her. And I knew that I would do everything in my power to protect her from men like the one who had taken my innocence away. I swore I’d never let anyone hurt her the way I was hurt. I swore to protect her. I promised her. But now…” She looked up, tears streaming down her face. “How can I call myself a mother? I couldn’t even protect my own children.”

Alison wasn’t sure what to say. She’d completely forgotten her anger. She’d forgotten she’d come here to shake Claire down. All she saw in front of her was a woman stripped bare and exposing a part of her soul that was hard to let others see. Alison knew exactly how that felt. She sat down next to her, gently placing her palm against her arm again.

“Claire, as parents…all we can do is try our best for our children. We can’t be there every second of every day. And sometimes…bad things…they happen.” She was struggling with how to ease her pain. How did you comfort a grieving mother with such a heavy burden? Her guilt _was_ eating away at her, but not for the reasons Alison thought. “And when something happens, if we’re not there…and something happens, that’s not for lack of trying on our part. What happened to your children, that’s not your fault. And what…what happened to you, that wasn’t your fault either. I’m so sorry you went through that. I…I know how that feels. But your children created something here. They wanted the world to be better. You said that Taylor wanted to do this to protect her little brother.”

“She did.” Claire nodded, wiping away her tears. “Though sometimes I suspected she knew how afraid I was, too…on some level. She’s perceptive.”

Alison didn’t miss the present tense. Claire didn’t either. She quickly backtracked.

“ _Was_. She _was_ perceptive.”

But something in her tone needled Alison’s brain.

“Claire, I have to ask you…do you think Taylor is still alive?”

Claire didn’t react. Her face was frozen in a mask of stoicism. After a few seconds she made eye contact with Alison.

“Are you protecting her from something?” Alison pushed.

“Until you’ve lost a child you can’t even begin to comprehend just how much you wish that the permanence of death was nothing more than a myth.” Not a yes. Not a no. “If I had the opportunity to hold both of my children again, I would. I would hold them and never let go. I would tell them how much I love them. And how sorry I am for every mistake.” She took a shaky breath. “You don’t know how much I wish my son and my daughter were alive. Because until you’ve lost a child, you just can’t understand the void it leaves when they’re gone.”

Alison nodded. She got the feeling that she’d gotten all she was going to get out of Claire. There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. Alison glanced at the picture of Claire holding her daughter in the hospital.

“Do you know why I faked my own death?” Alison questioned.

“I’ve read the stories.”

“You’ve read the stories, but you haven’t heard _my_ story. See, the thing that the news reports _don’t_ tell you is what was truly going on through my head. You don’t hear about how desperate and afraid I was. I was a person who surrounded myself with a certain set of people, people I could control. Because the truth was I felt isolated. And alone.”

Long before she’d been on the run from A...from Mona, she had been stuck in a dark place. To outsiders looking in, all they could see was a picture-perfect family and a spoiled little rich kid who got everything she wanted. But the reality is that the perfection her family was striving for was like a heavy blanket weighing her down. The freeing life that others perceived was a choking oppression that was squeezing the life out of her.

“And the only way for me to rectify that…back then, back before I knew better, was to impede on other people’s lives. There is no excuse for what I put my friends and family through. But at the time I thought I knew how to control the situation. I didn’t realize that I needed help. I didn’t have anyone I trusted to step in for me. I created a legacy with my name. But that was my downfall. Because people saw me and they heard about the person I once was…and they made up their mind about me. Because most of the time people only get a fraction of the story. It’s no different with me. What you saw was the court accounts of my lies unraveling. But there was a _reason_ I lied about being kidnapped in the first place.”

“From what I recall you were being antagonized and threatened.”

“And I made it worse by refusing to let anyone help. Asking for help is a very human thing to do. I learned that the hard way.”

Claire considered her words. After a few seconds she stood up.

“I have a meeting I have to attend.” Claire grabbed the empty wine glass and walked towards the kitchen. “I trust that you can see yourself out the same way you came in.”

“Far be it from me to judge you for anything, but I do know that holding on to secrets only hurts the people you love the most in the end.”

“I really do hope you find your wife, Alison. And your girls. There is no greater pain the world than a mother mourning her children.”

“Listen, mother to mother, I’m begging you here…if you know something…”

“I don’t,” she said it quickly. Almost too quickly. “But I would advise you to tread carefully in your quest for answers. You _are_ being watched.”

“So call your guard dog off. It would be a lot easier for me to get answers without Booker impeding in my life every chance she gets.”

“Dana Booker is only doing her job. Someone killed my son. Just because I sympathize with the situation you’re facing with your wife and children doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten that _my_ child was brutally murdered. You are still a person of interest.”

“You know I had nothing to do with that…”

“What I know is that you have been desperate before. And it led to some very damning situations. And the company you keep is questionable at best. Just because you might not have harmed my son doesn’t mean that the people who run in your circle didn’t. It doesn’t matter how much I trust you. I don’t trust your judgment.”

“Then why did you hire me?”

“Because I believe that given the chance, anyone can better themselves.” She left it at that as she disappeared into her kitchen.

Alison stood in the living room trying to soak in all of the new information. She had no idea how much she had in common with Claire Hotchkiss and her family. She had no idea how damaged they were. Alison glanced at the portrait of Nolan and Taylor. She frowned.

_What the hell have I gotten myself into?_

She walked out of the house feeling deflated and depressed. She hated Claire for playing games, but she also understood _why_ she was playing games. And as much as she hated the situation, she hated the monster who had hurt Claire in the first place. She hated people who could do something so horrible…so deplorable, and keep on living like it was nothing.

She walked around for almost fifteen minutes before she remembered that Mona was waiting on her in the car. She found Mona pacing outside of the car.

“Finally.” Mona looked up when she saw her walking towards the vehicle. “I was starting to worry. What took you so long?”

Alison grabbed the door handle and climbed inside. Mona followed her.

“I got turned around on my way back.” Alison lied. She put her hands on the steering wheel and stared into the cover of the trees outside. “So…you heard it all, right?”

Mona cut her eyes away uncomfortably. She didn’t say anything at first. But then she sighed and looked at Alison.

“You faked your death because of me,” Mona said quietly. “I convinced you that you’d be better off. _I_ made you feel isolated and alone.”

“I did it to you first.” Alison reminded her. “We were caught in a toxic cycle. We’re not in that place anymore.”

Mona nodded in agreement. Alison unclasped the button and pulled the spy equipment off of her clothing. She handed it to Mona.

“What do you want me to do with the footage?” Mona asked.

“Destroy it,” Alison said without skipping a beat.

Mona seemed surprised.

“Are you sure? She could be lying.”

Alison shook her head.

“I looked into her eyes, Mona.” Pain like that couldn’t be faked. “She was telling the truth.” She looked down at the floorboard. “What Claire told me in there…that’s not my story to share. With _anyone_. It’s _her_ truth. And she gets the right to decide when she wants to tell it.” She faced Mona again. “Get rid of it. I mean it.”

“Okay.” Mona didn’t argue.

Alison started the car up and they started their drive back to town. Neither one of them said anything for a while. It was Mona who finally broke the silence.

“You know, if Nolan found out the truth and he figured out who raped his mother, that person would have a pretty strong motive for the murder. And if Taylor knew it could have led to her questioning enough about her life to either drive her to suicide or make her want to disappear.”

“Whoever this psycho is, he destroyed that entire family.” Alison shook her head. “I hate this place.”

The car fell back into an uncomfortable silence. Alison dropped Mona off at her place, but she didn’t feel like going home alone. She’d spent too many nights without Emily. She hadn’t heard her babies voices and she hadn’t been able to tell her wife she loved her. It was starting to take its toll on her. She felt like taking action, but she didn’t know what action to take. So she drove around for a while.

She ended up at the bar outside of town where Ava had seen Taylor. It was still early enough in the day that there wasn’t a lot going on, even for a Saturday. She sat down at the bar and stared at the television screen. Her eyes drifted to the shotgun above the television. She never understood why some people felt the need to prop a weapon up to show how badass they were. Things like mounted weapons always made her assume the person showcasing it had a microscopic penis and they were overcompensating.

She zoned out for a while. She occasionally checked her phone. She didn’t realize how much she missed seeing little messages from her wife until they were no longer around for her to appreciate anymore.

She racked her brain trying to figure everything out. She believed Claire’s story about her sexual assault. But there were some gaps that still needed to be filled in, and her brain was steadily working towards that. She thought about the messages that had been on the USB drive. Claire had never admitted that she talked to Nolan about Taylor’s lineage, and she’d seemed surprised when Alison mentioned it.

The only other person that Nolan could have been texting with the specific language that he was using was Taylor. It would stand to reason that Taylor and Nolan trusted one another. It would also stand to reason that they would fight like most siblings. But would they have fought hard enough to push Taylor over the edge? Would she have killed her brother over that secret?

If Claire wasn’t the danger, perhaps Taylor was the danger. Maybe she was angry at her family. Maybe she was angry enough to kill her brother. And maybe she was angry enough with her mother for keeping the truth about her heritage from her that she would frame her to make it look like Claire was responsible for Nolan’s death.

She started to wonder, if Taylor _was_ alive then maybe she’d been the one to buy the ticket to Rosewood she’d found in the house. But what possible reason would Taylor have to seek her out in Rosewood? Was it because she wanted tips on how to disappear? To fake her own death? Was she obsessed with Alison because of her past? Alison had heard about obsession turning dangerous. What if her family was caught in the crossfire? What if Emily was trying to warn her? Had that been what her video was about? What if Taylor had killed Nolan and she’d snapped? What if she was after Alison now? Was that how Emily’s wedding band had ended up at that cabin? Had Taylor hurt her?

Alison closed her eyes, unable to cope with the idea of something as unthinkable as Emily’s death. She felt tears threatening to spill down her face. She opened her eyes and reached up to rub away her tears.

_Not my wife. Please. Anyone but my wife._

Alison was so deep in thought that she barely even noticed when the bartender walked over to her and put a glass down in front of her. It reeked of vodka.

“Vodka-Tonic,” he said.

“I didn’t order this.”

“Someone is sweet on you,” he said with a shrug. “Some pretty little blonde told me to pass this along to you as she was paying her tab a few minutes ago.”

_A blonde?_ Taylor? Was Taylor playing a cat and mouse game with her?

Alison looked around the bar. She hadn’t seen a blonde anywhere when she’d come in. He motioned to a dark booth in the corner.

“She left, but not before asking me to give you this.” He handed her a folded up piece of paper. “Guess you earned her number.”

He walked off. Alison unfolded the scrap of paper. But it wasn’t a number. It was a small photo of her family. Alison recognized the ripped corner. It had come from Emily’s wallet.

Alison’s heart hammered in her chest. She frantically looked around the bar, but didn’t see any sign of the girl the bartender was describing.

“Hey!” She called for the bartender’s attention. “Did you see where she went?”

The bartender lifted an eyebrow curiously.

“Looking for a little afternoon delight?” He laughed. “I get it.”

_I’m going to rip that shotgun off of the wall and shoot you in the ass…_ She angrily thought to herself.

“She left a keycard on the table.” He reached into a pile of dishes and pulled out a motel key. “Knock yourself out sweetheart.” He tossed the key in her direction.

Alison grabbed the plastic keycard. She looked at it and saw that something had been scribbled on it in marker.

_“Come alone.”_

Alison rushed out the door, leaving the alcohol untouched and the bartender curious about the whole encounter. She leaped into her car and sped to the motel. She parked in an adjoining parking lot out of sight on the off-chance that she was walking directly into a trap. She hadn’t had time to slow down and consider the ramifications of how badly it could go. She was riding high on her adrenaline.

She grabbed a hunting knife from the trunk. It was the only thing small enough that she could hide and use for self-defense just in case she needed it. She grabbed the keycard and looked at the room number. Then she snuck around the side of the motel and found the corresponding door. When she got to the door she paused. She had no idea if she should knock or just barge in. She decided that stealth was better.

She put one hand on the hunting knife and pulled it close to her body and then she used the keycard to open the door. The room was dark and musty. She didn’t see anyone, so she slowly moved inside. She peered behind the door and looked for shadows and movements, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. She listened, but didn’t hear a sound. She walked inside with the sad realization that someone was just screwing with her.

“Damn it,” she uttered.

When she turned back towards the door the bathroom door behind her creaked open. She saw someone moving towards her and she didn’t even think. She just reacted.

All she could think about was her wife and children. She wanted someone to suffer for whatever horrible heinous thing had befallen her family. She was angry. _So_ angry. And she was in survival mode. Her fight or flight instinct kicked heavily into “fight”. If something had happened to Emily she had to live, for Grace and Lily.

She pulled the knife up and drove it into the shadow coming towards her with as much force as she could muster. In the low light of the room she saw something fall to the floor and she realized it was a blonde wig. When she looked up the hood that was covering the shadow’s face fell backwards and a wide pair of familiar brown eyes were looking back at her.

“Oh my God.” Alison dropped the knife. The weapon hit the ground, sending blood splatter on to the floor. “Emily?”

Emily pulled her hand away from her sweatshirt and they both stared at the blood on her fingertips. Alison put her hands on Emily’s body to steady her. One hand immediately went to cover the wound. She could feel the hot sticky blood drenching Emily’s clothing.

Alison’s face blanched. She was suddenly terrified that she was going to find out whether or not Emily had revised her will.

Alison had spent days obsessing over the fact that something terrible had happened to Emily. But in all of the scenarios that had played out in Alison’s head, she never imagined that _she_ would be the danger to her wife.

“Oh my God,” she uttered again. Her voice came out quick and harsh and panicked. She moved her palm up against Emily’s neck, her fingers leaving trails of blood in their wake. “Em, I’m so sorry. Hold on. Just please hold on.”

* * *

**A/N:** _Yes, Alison did just stab her wife. Talk about “love hurts”. She literally has Emily’s blood on her hands. We’ve got some major things to digest here. Alison trying to clue Spencer in. That nasty nightmare about the cops coming to Alison’s house. The revelation about Claire’s past and Taylor’s conception. That bartender is a douchenozzle. And why exactly is Emily running around Beacon Heights as a blonde? I so can’t wait for the next chapter. I’ll try not to make you wait another two months. Give me a little shout in the comments if you’re still here for this drama._


	8. Dark Shadows

* * *

  **Chapter 8:**

**Dark Shadows**

Strangely enough, Alison’s first thought was not the blood on her hands or the pain on Emily’s face. Strangely enough, it was the girls. Her babies. Because she had no idea if they were with Emily. And if they walked in and saw their mom hurt and bleeding she knew it would scar them for life. Her eyes darted around the room. She looked at Emily in a frantic panic.

Somehow, Emily managed to decipher exactly what was on Alison’s mind.

“They’re not here.” She gripped her injury, huffing out a pained breath. “Lily and Grace aren’t here. They’re safe.”

Alison nodded. She reached for her phone to call 911, but Emily stopped her, accidentally knocking it out of her hands. Alison saw it fall to the ground, Emily’s blood smeared on the screen.

Emily grunted.

“Jesus Christ, Ali…” She held her palm tight against the injury. Alison saw her hand moving up and down rapidly as she tried to breathe through the pain.

All Alison could feel coursing through her veins was shock. For half a second she thought she was having another nightmare. The cops hadn’t really come to her residence to tell her that Emily was dead. Maybe this was just a figment of her imagination. But then she looked at Emily’s face, and she knew it was real.

“Sit…you…you need to sit.” Alison stuttered out. She helped her move down against the bed. “I’m so sorry. I…I didn’t know it was you.” She looked at the wetness pooling on Emily shirt. “God, that’s really bad.”

Emily lifted her sweatshirt. She moved her fingers away from it to get a better look. The gash had a significant amount of blood flowing out of it, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it was going to be.

“It’s okay. I’m okay. It didn’t go in as deep as I thought.” Though she could see the fatty tissue and the torn muscles inside of the gaping hole. “It didn’t hit anything internally.”

“How can you know that?” Alison sat down next to her. She ran her fingers against her bloody skin. She felt sick to her stomach. She’d never been good with blood. “You need an ambulance…”

“I’d be dead if it was serious.”

“ _Serious_? You have a hole in your stomach…”

“Side.” Emily corrected her. “There’s a lot of padding there. It’s just skin and muscle. Mostly muscle. You know I work out.”

“This isn’t a joke, Emily.”

“I don’t know. I’ve got some side-splitting laughter happening here…” She said through a pained smile.

Alison felt like melting into a puddle on the ground when she saw the sweet expression on Emily’s face. Her eyes were the most soulful thing in the world.

_God damn her smile…_

Alison’s eyes darted down to the injury and then back to Emily’s face. She could see beads of sweat forming on her forehead and cheeks. But she was awake and alert.

Alison felt her panic dissipating. In her haste to try and defend herself she hadn’t injured Emily as badly as she could have. And the stab wound didn’t change the fact that Emily had been lying to her.

Her fear and terror was slowly being overshadowed by her frustration and anger. Had Emily been in town this whole time? And she _hadn’t_ contacted her? How could she leave her hanging like that? Emily knew how sensitive she was in these situations. She stared at her wife for a few seconds, still trying to get over the initial shock of it all.

“I know I have a lot to explain, and I…”

With lightning speed Alison raised her arm and threw her palm into Emily’s cheek so hard that it jerked her neck sideways.

Before Emily could say anything, Alison pulled her in for a hug, muttering and calling her a dumbass over and over. She pulled back to look at Emily again, tears in her eyes. She cradled the cheeks she’d missed so much, her smooth soft caramel skin glowing with sweat. She moved in to kiss her, their lips meeting in a fiery haze of passion.

“I thought you were dead.” Alison pulled back, breathing hard, her forehead resting against Emily’s.

“Guess that makes us even.” Emily smiled.

“Emily…” Her tone was bordering on anger.

“I know. I know. It doesn’t compare.”

“No. Not with what we have now.” Alison moved her hand down to the blood on Emily’s sweatshirt. She couldn’t see the red splotches because the dark color of the sweatshirt, but she felt the warm wetness of her blood, and she could see the large rip in the clothing where the knife had gone in. “We need to take you to the hospital.”

“Settle down, Alison. It was a pocketknife, not a machete. It’ll be fine.”

“I _stabbed_ you.”

“I can’t go to a hospital, okay? I can’t go _anywhere_ where I can risk being seen.” She wiped some blood off of her hand and pushed her palm against the wound to slow the bloodflow. “It’s fine.”

Alison saw that her hands were shaking, which told her that Emily was starting to feel the pain. Her adrenaline was wearing off. Alison looked at her sympathetically.

“Baby…”

“What were you doing coming in like that?” Emily shook her head.

“I thought it was a trap.”

“And you walked into it anyway? What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking you were hurt…or in danger…or…or dead.” She felt her throat close up at the thought of it. “I wanted answers…or justice. I wasn’t just going to let a suspected killer walk away.”

“You thought I was a killer and you came at me with _that_ weak ass shit?” She motioned towards the small hunting knife on the floor. “Come on, did all the tactical classes I passed on to you from my dad teach you _nothing_?”

Alison was stunned. Emily was sitting in a dingy motel room bleeding, yet she was lecturing her about how she should have taken more precaution to protect herself.

“Would you rather I have killed you?” Alison snapped.

“If I was a dangerous person, yes.”

“I didn’t exactly bring an arsenal. You know I don’t like guns. Don’t you remember that tirade I went on after the girls were born?”

The second she mentioned her daughters, Alison’s eyes widened in fright. She didn’t like the fact that neither she nor Emily was with them. She didn’t feel like they were truly safe unless they were with one of them.

“Oh my God, Lily and Grace.” She gripped Emily’s hands frantically. “Where are they? You said they were safe, right?”

“Hey, they are. They’re fine.” Emily reached into her pocket and pulled out a small square of paper.

It was a Polaroid picture. The edge was stained with Emily’s blood. Emily wiped it off and handed it to Alison. Alison felt a wave of immense joy roll over her when she saw the image of her two little girls sitting on a porch playing with bubbles.

Grace was pointing in awe at a big bubble floating through the air. Pam had Lily in her lap and was helping her blow bubbles. Lily was giggling in the picture.

Alison looked at the surroundings in the photo. She knew the place immediately. It wasn’t in Rosewood. It was Pam’s sister’s cabin in upstate New York. It was a place that no one would recognize except for the two of them. Which is exactly how Emily had planned it. She’d avoided digital media at all costs. She didn’t want _anyone_ knowing where their children were.

“They’re with my mom and her sister having the time of their lives. I told my mom I had some prospects for work that might put you and me a little closer together, but that there was some travel involved. I asked if she would take them for a little while. My only stipulation was that I didn’t want them in Rosewood. I told her I was worried they’d latch on to us not being there and that it would be too hard for them.”

Of course they were with Pam. She was the only person Emily trusted their lives with. It’s not like they had a lot of family to choose from. Alison’s dad was as good as gone. He’d shunned Alison just like he’d shunned Charlotte. Anything that strayed from his norm was seen as a sin in his eyes. Sometimes it hurt Alison to know she’d been rejected by her own father. She’d secretly wished that her dad would come to his senses like Pam had after Emily came out. But at the same time, she didn’t want him anywhere near her children. She’d seen how volatile he could be.

“She was okay with taking them?” Alison asked.

“She practically jumped at the chance. She knows they won’t be this little forever.”

“I miss them so much.” Alison traced the photograph with her fingers.

“They miss you, too.” Emily peered at their girls. “Grace lost a tooth a few nights ago. Mom said the Tooth Fairy accidentally left a 50 dollar bill instead of a 5-spot, so we’ve got that expectation to live up to now.”

“Great.” Alison uttered.

“On the plus side, it served as a distraction that we’re not there.”

“Leaving them was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.” Alison’s thumb hovered between Lily and Grace in the photograph.

“I know,” Emily replied softly.

It had been hard for all of them. Emily had had to deal with the aftermath after Alison left. Their vibrant little toddlers had turned into weepy sullen children. The first day without her was hell. Grace and Lily both cried.

Lily had become clingy. Grace had tried to sneak out and ride her tricycle all the way to Beacon Heights. Fortunately, Emily caught her before she left the driveway.

Grace had thrown herself on to the pavement and threw a tantrum to end all tantrums. The only thing that had soothed the girls’ broken hearts was the promise that they’d get to see their mother that following weekend.

It was a trip that had never happened. Because Alison hadn’t been in Beacon Heights for more than a week before the heir to the Hotchkiss estate had been brutally murdered. She’d started to push Emily away at that point. She didn’t want her family anywhere near the unfolding drama.

Unfortunately for her, she had a determined wife who had made plans of her own. Alison should have known that Emily would go to the ends of the Earth to protect her. She’d always jumped into the line of fire for her.

“I told you to stay away.” Alison slowly lifted her chin, her eyes meeting Emily’s eyes.

“When has that ever stopped me?” Emily asked, moving her free hand up to Alison’s face. She cringed when she felt the injury on her side. “Come on, how long have we known each other?” She smiled warmly. “You know I’d follow you anywhere.”

“You could have been killed,” Alison uttered, her voice shaking.

“I know.”

Alison took a moment to appreciate the fact that she was looking at her wife, touching her again.

“God, I have missed you so much.” Alison put her palm against Emily’s sweaty face, pushing her hair aside.

Neither one of them spoke for a few minutes. There was a needy electric energy in the air. They didn’t have to converse with words to know what was being said in the quiet conversation they were sharing. Both of them bathed in the other’s affection.

They hadn’t touched each other in weeks. Being within such close proximity opened up all of the emotions they’d been pushing away. Alison wanted so badly to forget the pain they’d been avoiding and to hold her, to cherish and caress her. She wanted her love more than anything. And Emily wanted Alison. But she knew they were running against the clock.

“We don’t have a lot of time.” Emily said, swallowing a knot in her throat. “I need to tell you everything I know and then I’ve got to get moving again.”

“No.” Alison gripped her hand. “No, you have to come back with me.”

“I can’t. It’s too dangerous.” Emily shook her head. “Someone is after us.”

“So we’ll figure it out _together_ , like we always do. We’re stronger together.”

“No, not _us_ as in you and me.” Emily stiffened. Alison saw her jaw twitch. She had the deep desire to kiss her when she saw her defined jaw line. “ _Us_ as in…me and Taylor.”

At first Alison wasn’t sure she’d heard that right. She’d been too distracted by Emily’s perfect jaw. She looked at Emily, perplexed.

“You and…Taylor?” Alison stuttered. “Taylor _Hotchkiss_?”

Emily nodded. Something inside of Alison felt like it had shattered. Her stomach curled up in knots. She felt like she’d been socked in the chest. She had spent _weeks_ trying to get to the center of the mystery that was the Hotchkiss family, and Emily had been _working_ with Taylor Hotchkiss?

_How did I miss this?_

How could Emily have kept it from her?

Emily saw the look on her face, a mixture of befuddlement and betrayal.

“It’s…it’s not what you think. It’s complicated,” she said. “She came to me for help.”

“When?”

“A few days after Nolan’s death. It was right after the last time we talked.” Emily rubbed her brow. “Look, there’s a lot that happened between when you left and today. I don’t even feel like the same person anymore. I can’t even remember what day it is.”

“You always did take on too much, sweetie.” Alison sighed. She glanced down at Emily’s wound, where the brunette was still holding pressure.

“That’s an understatement.” Emily grimaced. “I…I um…I’m getting a little lightheaded. I’ve got to do something about this.” Emily moved her hand away from the wound on her side.

She reached up, cringing as she lifted her arms above her head so she could pull her sweatshirt off. It left her in her black lacy bra. Her right side was smeared with blood. The gash where the knife had gone in was still oozing. The amount of blood on her body alarmed Alison.

“Emily…” Alison said softly.

“No, Alison. _No_ hospitals. It’s not an option.” Emily argued.

She saw Alison’s nostrils flare angrily. She ignored her anger. She reached into a bag by the bed, pulling out a first aid kit. Alison saw a military-grade suture kit in her hands.

“Where did you get that?”

“I’ve got dozens of them stored with my dad’s things. Mom never had the stomach to go through his stuff after he died.” She twitched at the mention of it. Her father’s death brought up a lot of unresolved feelings for her. “I found them and thought they might be of good use one day. I grabbed a few from the gun safe before I left town.”

“Great, so you’re saying you knew you were going to get hurt doing this and you did it anyway.”

“I knew there was a _possibility_ , yes.” Emily nodded. “Never thought you’d be the one making me bleed though.”

“You’re lucky I didn’t rip your head off.”

“Love you, too, honey,” Emily sniped caustically.

Emily grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol from the first aid kit in her bag. She’d left Rosewood prepared for anything, though she certainly didn’t think that she’d be getting stabbed by her wife. She clenched her jaw and then poured the alcohol over the fresh gash in her side. It was cool at first, but then it started to burn, like little hot prods poking every square inch of her skin. It felt like the wound was on fire. She grimaced through the pain and then opened the suture kit.

“Are you seriously sewing yourself up?”

“I know we don’t talk about it, but I learned some…tricks…” She looked at Alison. She was having trouble holding her gaze. She cleared her throat and mumbled, “…in the dollhouse.”

“Excuse me?”

Emily looked away, her emotional pain obviously worse than her physical pain. Over the years they had talked about a lot, but there was still a fair amount that Alison didn’t know about the time Emily and the rest of her friends were locked in an underground bunker.

About a week after they’d been kidnapped Emily and Spencer had tried to team up against their captor. It had ended up in both of them getting hurt. Hanna, Aria, and Mona had been sitting in a small playroom when the automatic doors opened and Emily had come limping in, holding a groggy Spencer up and supporting her while they walked. Spencer had a bruise forming near her temple and a small cut oozing blood underneath her eye.

 _“What happened to you two?”_ Mona’s eyes widened in surprise.

_“She got hit on the head pretty hard. She might have a concussion.”_

_“I do not have a concussion. I can’t afford a concussion. I need every last brain cell that I have.”_ Spencer argued.

They helped Spencer into a chair, where Aria immediately started tending to her injuries. It was only when Spencer’s weight was off of Emily that they saw that the brunette had blood on her left hand and was limping on her right leg. They looked down and saw that her ankle was covered in blood.

 _“Oh my God, Em. Are you okay?”_ Hanna asked.

_“I’m fine.”_

_“What happened?”_

_“Emily tried to be a hero is what happened,”_ Spencer said in annoyance.

_“A was trying to take you!”_

_“You should have let them.”_ She faced Aria, who was wiping the blood away from Spencer’s cheek. _“You’re so damn stubborn, I swear…”_

_“The only way we make it through this is by sticking together. I wasn’t going to let that psycho take you away.”_

_“Sit down.”_ Mona motioned Emily towards a chair.

Emily reluctantly followed Mona’s orders. Mona asked to see her hand first, which Emily complied with. The cut on her hand wasn’t bad. It was already starting to scab over.

Mona had Emily lift her leg to get a better look at her injuries. Emily hissed when Mona moved her foot. There was an inch wide gash right above her ankle.

 _“This one is really deep.”_ Mona made a face.

 _“Gross. I can see the bone.”_ Hanna gagged.

_“That’s not bone. That’s muscle and cartilage.”_

_“I’m going to puke.”_

_“What did A do to you?”_ Mona asked timidly. _“Was it the spiked restraints?”_

Emily nodded.

_“They strapped me down. I was fine until I felt a damn cattle prod against my neck. When I jerked, the metal sticking into my ankle sliced it open.”_

_“Em, that could get wickedly infected…”_ Aria cringed.

_“We’re going to die in here anyway. What does it matter?”_

_“What happened to ‘everything is going to be okay’?”_ Hanna asked.

Emily shrugged. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice Mona opening a small cabinet. She pulled out a sewing kit and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. She walked back over to where Emily’s leg was raised.

 _“May I?”_ She asked as she put the supplies down.

 _“Can’t make it any worse.”_ Emily nodded.

They all watched in fascination as Mona delicately tended to Emily’s injuries. She cleaned the cut on her hand and then doused the gash above her ankle with alcohol before doing makeshift stitches on her. Emily had been so numb to the pain at that point that all she could concentrate on was the rhythmic motions of Mona’s stitching.

 _“How did you learn how to do this?”_ Emily asked.

Mona didn’t answer at first. She was really quiet. But then she timidly looked up at her friends.

_“I’ve been here for months. I’ve had to adapt.”_

Hanna touched Mona’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. Mona smiled appreciatively at her.

_“On the bright side I’ve got something worthwhile to add to my resume for medical school. Who else can say they’ve sutured up themselves and their friends while locked away in a secret bunker?”_

_“People in the military.”_ Hanna replied.

 _“You could take the joy out of sunshine.”_ Spencer uttered sarcastically.

 _“God, I miss the sun.”_ Hanna lamented.

 _“I miss getting burned by the sun.”_ Aria sighed.

 _“You would, you albino.”_ Spencer teased.

Mona finished stitching Emily up. They all got a lesson in emergency first aid that day. It wasn’t the first time that one of them had to stitch the other up. Two days later Mona had gotten her arm sliced open by a whip. Emily had stitched her up that day.

Alison was in tears hearing about the torture they’d had to endure. She’d known it was bad, but this was the first time Emily had gone into detail about it.

“You never told me that…” Alison looked at the scar on her ankle. She touched the small blemish on Emily’s hand. “You said it was from cutting yourself on a piece of jagged railing at the pool.”

“It was just easier to pretend that was the truth,” Emily said quietly.

Emily lifted her arm and pat the bloody area around the laceration on her side with a gauze pad until the alcohol was dry. She opened the packet that had the suture material in it.

“Em, you can’t seriously think you can do this…”

“Do you have a better idea? I’d prefer not to bleed all over the place.”

Alison hesitated at first, but then she reached for the needle.

“Here. Let me.”

“This is a little more complex than basic sewing, Alison.”

“Give me. The damn. Needle.” Her nagging wife voice was at an all-time high.

Emily handed it over to her without arguing.

“Lay down.” Alison pulled a pillow down from the top of the bed and moved to help Emily lie back against the mattress.

Alison doused her hands with alcohol to wash away the remnants of Emily’s blood. Then she gently placed the tip of the needle against Emily’s skin. She saw her flinch when she pressed it into her skin. Her fingers delicately threaded the suture through.

“You had me worried to death. All this time I thought something terrible had happened to you.”

“I was trying so hard to get to you without Beacon Guard knowing. I tried everything I could think of. Took you long enough to get my message.”

“Well maybe next time you shouldn’t speak in riddles.”

“It was the only way I could communicate without them knowing. I thought Mona would have caught on. I really did.”

“When did you record that video message?”

“Before I left Rosewood. I knew I needed a fail-safe in case things went wrong…”

“Like a wife stabbing her own wife wrong?” Alison asked sarcastically.

She carefully put in another stitch. She tugged on the suture a little too hard. Emily was certain she did it on purpose to prove a point.

“Ow.” She complained, wiggling just the slightest bit.

“Stop moving.”

“God, you’re bossy.”

“And you’re insane. What’s your point?”

“I’m not insane.”

“You shot and uploaded an encrypted video before you came here because you knew how dangerous it was.” Alison frowned in disapproval. “You worried your wife.”

“You had your wine to cope.”

“Don’t you dare turn this back on me.”

Emily felt bad about the low blow. She grimaced.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean…” She bit her lip. “I know how hard it’s been for you to be away from the girls…”

“And you.” Alison reminded her. “I know we weren’t exactly in the best place when I left.”

“I understand that you needed to figure things out. I do.” Emily touched her arm gently. “And I hope you understand that no matter what, I will never stop loving you, which means I will stop at nothing to keep you safe.”

“Including learning how to code like you’re in the damn CIA.”

“I had help with that.”

“If you tell me that Caleb knew about this I will take the first flight out to the east coast and strangle him in person.”

“It was Barry Maple.”

“As in… _Chief_ Barry Maple?”

“He’s the only one on the force I trust since Toby went all Carpenter Jesus Cavanaugh on us.” Emily explained. Toby had quit the force to work on building houses. “I didn’t tell Barry the whole story. I told him it was a digital file that I needed encrypted for confidential estate purposes. I told him that Peter Hastings was working on revising some things for our wills, which…he is by the way. All that estate stuff came up before all hell broke loose.”

“Yeah. Spencer told me.”

She could see Emily gritting her teeth when she slid the needle through her skin, but her brave brunette didn’t say a word. Instead, she focused on their conversation.

“I had the video encrypted so that only a certain code could open it. I had Mona’s chess app on a burner. I was playing the game with her just to have that opening in case I needed it. It wasn’t until we were followed out to the Lost Lake Resort that I realized I needed to get it to you as soon as possible.”

“What was with the Bob Dylan lyric?” Alison carefully added another suture to her cut. “How did you even know about Dylan?”

“Taylor said that Nolan trusted Dylan. He…” Emily pursed her lips. “She thinks Nolan might have been in love with Dylan.”

“But…Nolan loved Ava.”

“You and I both know how complicated love is when you’re their age.” Emily said, trying to remain sensitive about the topic.

The two of them had floated around one another, completely drawn into each other’s orbit, but they’d gone through other relationships while they did the dance of love.

“Every exhilarating moment feels like love. It’s easy to get lost in an obsession when you can only see with your heart.” Emily’s abs tensed up when she felt Alison pull a knot tight against her skin. “Nolan cared very deeply for both of them. But he only told _one_ of them that he went to Rosewood this past summer.”

“He…” Alison didn’t comprehend what Emily had said at first. She stopped stitching and stared at her wife. “Why?”

“That’s what we need to find out. Taylor thinks he was following a lead, but she didn’t get a chance to talk to him about it before he was killed. All she knows is that he flew into Pittsburgh and was there for two days. Then he made the trip out to Rosewood.”

“Do you think he was looking for us?”

“If he was, then why don’t we know about it?”

“I don’t know. You didn’t reach out to me when you got to Beacon Heights.” Alison said, her tone bratty.

She picked up the needle and started stitching again. She concentrated on her technique as she sutured Emily, but inside she was shaking. Emily could feel her tension.

“Hey…” Emily hooked her fingers underneath Alison’s chin. Alison stopped stitching and looked at her. “I didn’t do this to hurt you. I love you too much to see you hurt. I was afraid of what would happen if the wrong people found out about this. Two can only keep a secret…”

“If one of them is dead.” Alison had said it to Emily during a defining moment in both of their lives. It was right after Emily had nearly been killed by A. Mona had locked her in a garage full of carbon monoxide. “I get that you were trying to protect me. But I came here to prove I didn’t need protection. I came here because I needed to make it on my own.”

“You’ve never been alone, Alison. Because I’ve loved you from the moment I met you.”

“If you loved me you wouldn’t be running around in the shadows with people you don’t even know.”

“It was either that or let this town eat you alive. And we both know I would never let that happen. I know you’re angry, but I would rather have you pissed off and alive than the alternative.”

“I’m not mad that you followed me out here. And I’m not mad that you were trying to protect me,” Alison said. “I’m mad because you’ve been dealing with this all on your own.” She couldn’t stand the thought of her wife dying in the darkness while trying to be some kind of knight in shining armor.

“So have you.”

Alison couldn’t argue with her.

“Listen, when Taylor came to me I wasn’t going to help her. Not at first. But something in your tone when we were talking that night wormed its way into my brain. It’s like…I could feel your emotions in the way you were talking. You sounded so upset. I could tell that you were in trouble.”

Emily had been so persistent with Alison that night. She knew that Alison was holding back, but she didn’t realize how much until a few hours after their last phone call.

 _“Do you hate me?”_ Alison had asked.

Emily had been peering at their sleeping children. They’d been trying to get them to sleep in separate beds, but the twins always ended up together one way or another. Emily looked at her little girls and saw nothing but love.

_“You have to stop asking me that every time we have a disagreement.”_

Lily rolled in her sleep. For a second Emily thought she was going to roll right out of her bed. But Grace reached out, her eyes still closed, and wrapped her arms around her sister. It’s like she knew.

_“I’m here for you, Ali. Whether you want me to be or not.”_

They’d said goodnight and exchanged “I love yous”, which was the only motivation that kept Emily going sometimes.

Emily hadn’t been able to sleep that night. She’d tossed and turned in her big empty bed for hours. She wasn’t used to not having Alison by her side. The room was too quiet.

After fighting her insomnia, she’d decided to get up and make herself some chamomile tea. She grabbed her phone on the off-chance that Alison might call, and then she quietly crept into the kitchen.

She’d gotten very good at navigating her way through the house while the girls were asleep. It was something she’d perfected when Lily and Grace were infants and they roused at the slightest indication of a noise.

Once the water had boiled she poured it over the teabag and let it steep in the mug. She heard a thump and then quiet footsteps approaching.

 _“Mama?”_ Grace walked in, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

She had her favorite blankie and her teddy bear in her arms. She’d pulled her pajama bottoms and underwear off in her sleep. She was a little exhibitionist, constantly basking in her nakedness.

_“Gracie, hey baby. Bad dream?”_

Lily walked up beside her, yawning. Her animal print PJs matched Grace’s top.

 _“We heard a noise.”_ Lily whined.

There was another thump, the same as before…the thump that Emily had assumed was her children coming down the stairs. There was a rustling noise outside.

Emily quickly moved over towards her children. She scooped them up out of the doorway. She rushed up the stairs. Her heart was hammering in her chest.

She didn’t stop until she got to their room. It wasn’t until she realized that they were out of harm’s way that she realized her phone was still in the kitchen. She mentally cursed herself, but kept her cool in front of her kids.

_“Hey, you want to play a game?”_

Grace nodded, holding her blanket up to her face, putting her thumb in her mouth.

_“How about ‘hide and seek’. You like ‘hide and seek’ right?”_

She knew exactly where her children would hide. Their bedroom closet. And that’s where she wanted them.

 _“I’m the best at ‘hide and seek’,”_ Lily said confidently.

_“I know. And this is a very special game. You two need to hide together, stay together, and stay REALLY quiet and don’t come out no matter what you hear. And if you can do that until I find you then we’ll get ice cream.”_

Lily and Grace both gasped in excitement. Ice cream at this time of night? Was it their birthday?

She heard something downstairs and her throat started to close up.

 _“Go on, girls. Hurry up.”_ Emily moved towards the door, closing it behind her. She heard their little footsteps as they rushed to the walk-in closet.

Emily slipped into her room and opened the safe where she stored her guns. She grabbed a handgun and popped a magazine in and then quietly crept down the hallway. She peered over the stair banister. She didn’t see any movement, but she knew that someone was in the house.

It was so quiet that she could hear her pulse rushing through her ears. She just hoped the girls would be able to stay silent in their hiding place. She didn’t want them to have the same fears in life that she’d developed after years of being stalked and tortured.

She clutched her gun tightly. She’d never fired at anything other than paper targets, but to protect her little girls she wouldn’t hesitate.

She heard the noise coming from the kitchen. Her breathing sounded like an ocean crashing against the shore. She licked her lips and put her finger on the trigger as she rounded the corner.

She saw a tall blonde near the stove, which she’d forgotten to turn off because of the commotion. The blonde reached over and turned the stove off.

For a split second Emily thought it was Alison, though she knew that logistically it couldn’t be her since she’d just gotten off of the phone with her a few hours ago. Still, she felt like she was looking at the back of her wife’s head. But she was the wrong height. Was she wearing heels? Maybe Alison had been in town when she’d called. Maybe she’d come back to surprise her. She knew it was wishful thinking. Still…

 _“Alison?”_ Emily lowered the gun.

The girl turned around and Emily quickly held the gun up again. She aimed, her hands steady as she peered over the barrel of the weapon.

 _“Whoa, wait a second.”_ The girl slowly put her hands up. _“I’m not here to hurt anyone.”_

_“Who are you?”_

_“You’re Emily Fields, right?”_

_“I asked you first. Who are you?”_ She demanded again.

 _“Someone who knows exactly what Alison DiLaurentis went through when she was a teenager.”_ She held her palms out flat, trying to show Emily that she meant her no harm. _“My name is Taylor. Taylor Hotchkiss.”_

The name registered immediately.

 _“Taylor Hotchkiss is dead.”_ Emily’s finger slid against the trigger again.

 _“No. No, I’m very much alive.”_ Her hands were still up where Emily could see them, but she didn’t trust her. _“You know exactly how easy it is for a lie to turn into the truth…if the story is convincing enough.”_ Her voice was calm and even. _“You don’t want to shoot me, Emily.”_

_“Try me.”_

_“Your wife is in danger.”_

The one thing that could get Emily’s attention.

 _“What?”_ Emily lowered the gun, still keeping her eyes on the blonde.

 _“Someone killed my brother.”_ Taylor’s voice was shaking. The wounds were still fresh. _“He knew I was alive. He was…he was helping me.”_

_“Helping you with what?”_

_“My family has a checkered past.”_ She bit her lip. _“At first, Nolan and I were just playing junior detective. We didn’t think we’d actually find anything. But we did. And it really screwed with both of us. I started to get paranoid. My anxiety drove me to do things I never would have done before. I couldn’t handle the pressure. I snapped.”_

_“Did you hurt him?”_

_“Of course not.”_ Taylor looked offended. _“But I did try to hurt myself. That’s how all of this started. I was ready to do it. I was ready to die. But as I climbed up to get a better look over the ledge of the bridge, my brother came out of nowhere. He stopped me. I tried to push him away, but he refused to let me go. He convinced me. He said…he said there was a better way. He said that there was a way for me to be free and a way for us to get to the bottom of our family secrets. But he warned me that it might rip us apart. And at the time I was fine with it. Because my choices were to follow his lead or jump. So I went with his idea.”_

Taylor had a mask of grief on her face as she talked about her baby brother.

 _“My roommate found the suicide note the next morning, which had given Nolan and I plenty of time to set the scene. We made it so convincing…”_ There was a hint of pride on her face. _“They couldn’t question the footage they saw on Beacon Guard. It was edited just enough that it looked like I followed through. I knew they wouldn’t find a body, because it would wash away downstream. But I left some of my clothes and jewelry in strategic places for the police to find. The plan worked just the way it should have. But then someone found out what we were really up to. And I’m fairly certain it’s the same person who ruined our lives in the first place.”_

_“Who?”_

Taylor twitched. She had an odd look on her face. She wasn’t able to answer. In truth, she was still working out the answer. She was still working on her plan.

_“That’s something I’d rather keep to myself until I know for sure. I promise you’ll know as soon as I know. The main thing is that someone killed my brother…because we were getting too close to the truth. Someone has skeletons in their closet that they’d kill to protect. I intend to find that person and bring them to justice. But I can’t do that on my own. Nolan said he was going to reach out to Alison…that he trusted her. But before he could tell her the truth someone murdered him. I was going to go to her, but she’s been compromised. They’re watching her.”_

_“They?”_

_“Beacon Guard. And it’s not safe anymore. My design backfired. Someone else is watching now. There was no way I could get to Alison. I need someone who knows her well enough to know what she’d do. I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to drag you into this. For your childrens’ sake…”_ She glanced towards the stairwell.

 _“You leave my girls out of this.”_ Emily clenched the gun tightly.

_“I’m sorry it has come to this this. The last thing I wanted to do was break another family while mine was shattering before my very eyes.”_

_“Why my wife? Why my family?”_

_“I thought Alison might be able to help us. I created an algorithm based on past high profile news stories that had certain criteria. Highly intelligent. Cunning. Quietly ruthless. And she met every single one of them. Her case back when she was in high school was huge. I’m the one who recommended her to the board. I knew my mother would be all over the idea. She loves to try and fix people with fractures in their past.”_ There seemed to be an undertone in Taylor’s voice. _“But now your wife is in danger, too. Because she’s smart enough to know that there is more to what happened to Nolan. And that makes her a target. I don’t…I don’t want anyone else to die. Please. I’m desperate. I need your help.”_

_“Why do you think I can help?”_

_“Because you’ve been through this before. And I know that you would do anything to protect her. And I don’t have anyone else. I don’t trust anyone. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be sinking in quicksand and watching the world as you know it completely being pulled in around you? These aren’t even my clothes. I stole these from my mom’s old collection…”_

Taylor couldn’t finish her story because she was breaking down. She was breaking down in the middle of Emily and Alison’s kitchen in the middle of the night. And all Emily could see was someone who was in desperate need of help. And Emily had never been able to stop herself from helping wounded strays.

 _“Taylor…”_ When Emily said her name, Taylor looked up at her. There was something calming about her voice, _“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out. We’ll call Alison first thing tomorrow…”_

 _“No.”_ Taylor cut her off. _“We can’t. Beacon Guard is watching her every move. If you tell her, it won’t be long before the whole town knows. And then everything will fall apart.”_

_“I can’t keep this from her.”_

_“If you tell her about me it could get her killed.”_

Emily sighed. She started to take a step towards Taylor, but hesitated. Taylor saw the motion. She wiped the tears from her eyes. Emily could see how exhausted the girl was, physically and emotionally. But she was still hesitant to get involved.

_“You don’t trust me. I get that. But you have to trust that I’m telling the truth about your wife’s involvement. She has way too many people looking at her right now. And if she doesn’t stop digging and the person who killed Nolan gets wind of what she knows it could be her funeral we hear about next.”_

Taylor knew that was the one thing that would really rattle Emily. She knew Emily had an innate desire to protect those she loved, because she’d read Emily’s file, too. She knew Emily and Alison much better than she was letting on. Her twisted sordid life was intertwined with the DiLaurentis-Fields family in ways they didn’t know about yet.

But all Emily saw that night was Taylor’s vulnerabilities. She looked at her, and she was back in high school again, back when Alison needed her protection. Taylor was a wounded girl on the run. Emily had a lot of experience in that area.

Emily had often heard the phrase “love is blind”, but what that saying didn’t elaborate on was that when someone you loved experienced something that wounded them, the people who cared about them took on those injuries as well. It also made their loved ones more prone to have soft spots for similar situations in the future. Falling back on old habits was easy.

What Emily saw in her house that night was another version of Alison. Someone young and vulnerable who needed help. She was too busy looking at what Taylor wanted her to see that she missed something huge that was a part of the bigger picture. It was something that would threaten to change life as they knew it.

But that threat wasn’t going to come to fruition in a dingy motel room. In fact, it was Emily’s persistence in protecting Alison that had kept her out of harm’s way. Someone was after Taylor and Emily, and as long as they were focused on them…they couldn’t focus on Alison.

Alison tried to absorb the fact that not only was Taylor Hotchkiss alive, but she was working with her wife.

“I can’t believe she pulled you into her mess.” Alison was angry, but at the same time she understood. She wasn’t surprised that Emily had jumped in to protect her, nor was she surprised she’d pulled a gun on Taylor to protect their daughters. “I can’t believe she had the nerve to break into our house and scare our daughters…”

“The girls were fine. By the time I went to get them they had fallen asleep in the closet. Lily was using Grace as a pillow.” She chuckled. “I had to get them that ice cream the next morning though. Lily refused to let me forget that promise.”

“Emily, you have to find a way to get out of this. You could be in danger. Mona and I…we found texts. Nolan was arguing with someone the day he died. It had to be either Claire or Taylor. Taylor could be dangerous.”

“People used to say that about you once upon a time, too.” Emily peered up at her, her soft doe eyes finding the good, like she always did.

“You two should have just come to me.”

“It’s too dangerous right now, especially with Claire in the spotlight.”

“Does Claire know about any of this?”

“Taylor doesn’t trust her mother. She doesn’t trust anyone.”

“She trusted you.” Though Alison wasn’t surprised. Emily was the most trustworthy person she knew. Alison bit her lip. “I think I know who killed Nolan. I mean, not specifically, but I have a direction.” She took a thoughtful pause. “Claire was raped. That’s how she got pregnant with Taylor.”

She had made Mona promise not to tell a soul, but she couldn’t keep it from Emily. They shared everything.

“Taylor told me.” Emily admitted. “It’s why she wanted to kill herself. She couldn’t stand the thought of being alive with the pain her mother has been carrying for all these years.”

“So she _did_ know?”

“It was really hard for her to talk about. And she didn’t tell me right away. She just mentioned that someone from her past might have a reason to hurt her family. And I think you’re right about whoever killed Nolan. Taylor and Nolan were researching who was in town the night Claire was assaulted. Taylor thinks they were getting too close, raising too many red flags. She says that Nolan had a plan to flush this person out, but something went wrong. And now the tables have turned. She thinks that whoever this is is trying to take down her family one by one. First Nolan’s death. And now Claire being scrutinized. Nothing she ever says will be credible now. This person knows an accusation could ruin them, so he is doing everything in his power to silence the Hotchkiss family.”

The thought of that made Alison sick to her stomach. That someone could try to strip Claire Hotchkiss of her dignity by holding her down and forcing themselves upon her and then to try to keep her pain silenced with horrible manipulative games.

“What kind of a person does that?” Alison uttered in disbelief.

“A did.”

“This isn’t high school.”

“No, it isn’t. But Taylor knows that this is just another form of the game. But the stakes are much higher. That’s why she came to me…to us. After I heard her story I couldn’t just turn her away. I know you’re pissed at me right now…”

“I would be more pissed had I not just shoved a knife into your spleen.” Alison tied the last stitch in.

“If it had hit my spleen we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Emily sat up.

“Not helping.” Alison glared at her. She frowned. “God, you’re such an idiot.”

“You did a good job.” Emily admired the stitches.

Alison ghosted her finger over the stitches.

“It’s going to scar.”

“It’ll be fine.”

“I still can’t believe you’re here…like this.” Alison’s face tightened. The crinkle in her brow was giving away how concerned she was. “Seriously, Em, what were you thinking?”

“I didn’t feel like I had a choice. She needed help. _You_ needed help. You refused to let me in. I had to bulldoze my way in. After I knew the girls were safe Taylor and I took a bus to Nebraska. She has a friend who flies private planes meet us there. We flew into Portland and we’ve been searching for answers since then. We’ve bounced around from RVs to motels to cabins. It’s hard to keep track. Taylor likes to keep moving. She literally lives out of a suitcase.”

“You said she wears her mom’s things…”

“She’s neurotic about buying clothes online. She’s afraid someone will track her. And she refuses to go into a store. She even has me change my appearance every time we go out because she’s afraid someone will see one of us and recognize us. She says that Beacon Guard has facial recognition technology built into it. She says she looks enough like her mom that she can pull off not being captured by it.”

“That’s why the police found Claire’s shoeprint at the lake. It wasn’t Claire. It was Taylor.”

Emily nodded to confirm it.

Alison reached into her pocket and rolled her fingers over an object she’d been carrying with her everywhere.

“You took off your ring.” She pulled Emily’s wedding ring out.

“It was all I had that could lead you to me without them catching on,” she said. “After I left that message for Mona I knew she’d start snooping. I left my ring where she could find it…somewhere I knew she would come searching…”

“Yeah, but did you have to _bleed_ on it? I already thought you were in trouble. The blood just made my mind go to a really dark place.”

“Huh?” Emily asked in confusion.

She held the ring out to Emily. She held it under the dim light and flicked it around so Emily could see the dark crimson stain. When she looked up Emily was laughing.

“This is funny to you?” Was she cracking up? Had Beacon Heights broken her wife?

“Ali, that’s not blood,” she said as she gently took her ring. She licked the tip of her index finger and then rubbed it gently against the ring. The stain disappeared. “That’s jam. It must have gotten lodged in there when I was making the girls sandwiches before dropping them off with my family.” She observed the ring a little closer and realized that she’d accidentally smeared a drop of blood against it. “ _Now_ it has blood on it.” She handed it back to Alison.

“You’re not funny.” She stared at the ring.

“Then why are you smiling?”

“Because it’s impossible to be mad at you when you don’t have a shirt on.”

“Oh, yeah?” Emily lifted her brows mischievously. “Maybe I should take my pants off, too.”

Alison wanted to hit her, but she refrained because she knew it would hurt her.

“Don’t try to distract me while I’m interrogating you.” Alison scowled.

“You’re cute when you’re mad.”

“I must look like the cover of _Vogue_ right now then.” Alison held Emily’s gaze. After a few seconds, her face softened. “You’ve really been out here stalking me?”

Emily nodded.

“Ava saw Taylor at the bar one night. She said someone with dark hair picked her up.”

“That was me. Taylor was having a panic attack. She wasn’t expecting Ava to be there.” Emily explained. “I knew it would only be a matter of time before you came snooping. That’s why I went back today. I was hoping you’d be there.”

“All this time I felt like someone was watching me.” She had spent so many sleepless nights worried about who was lurking in the shadows. “And it was you.”

“I was only on campus a few times. Taylor warned me it could be dangerous, so I was careful. I wore a disguise and I stayed hidden. But I found you.” She always found her. “I had to make sure you were safe.”

Alison couldn’t help herself as she reached up to cradle Emily’s cheek.

 _My girl._ She thought. _So brave. But so soft. And so incredibly selflessly stupid._

“You know, I followed you one night.” Emily touched Alison’s wrist, gently wrapping her fingers around it. “You went out into the middle of nowhere and I was worried that something might happen to you. I kept my distance, but you don’t know how hard it was for me to stay in the shadows. I watched you sit out and look at the stars…and write.”

Emily knew that Alison was a frantic writer when she was anxious. She could only imagine what Alison had been writing that night. She didn’t know that it was a love letter to her.

“I really could have used your company.” Alison looked away. She grabbed an antiseptic wipe from the first aid kid and started cleaning the edges of Emily’s wound.

“I really could have used yours, too.” Emily admitted. “I know I don’t have any right to say that since I’m the one who has been keeping secrets…”

“I’ve been keeping them, too.” Alison interrupted her. “We both fell back into old patterns. We really need to work on that.”

“I’m so sorry that this blew up like this. We had it under control until a bunch of shit went down back in Pennsylvania.”

“The car?”

“You know about that?”

“Apparently the police called Claire. She clued me and Mona in.” Her stomach tensed. She felt like she was going to throw up. She’d thought that charred body was Emily. “What happened?”

“I have no idea. Taylor picked it up on a scanner that’s tracking what’s happening back in Rosewood. She set it all up before we left.”

“That girl has got a freaky mind. Like Mona-level freaky.”

“You have no idea. She could match wits with both Spencer _and_ Mona without breaking a sweat.”

“God, don’t let Mona hear that. She’d make it a personal challenge to prove you wrong.”

“That would be an interesting debate to see. Taylor is like _A Beautiful Mind_ level of brilliant. I haven’t seen anyone use technology like this since…” Emily drifted off.

Alison saw her cringing.

“Since who?”

“Since Charlotte.”

Alison’s expression hardened. She still had very complicated feelings about her sister. Charlotte had fooled Alison into caring for her, and loving her. She kicked herself every day for what happened to her friends at Charlotte’s hands. She knew that there were people out there who used their knowledge for good, but because of Charlotte’s betrayal she had a hard time trusting people who were crafty and intelligent. Because she knew firsthand what that crafty intelligence could turn in to. She also knew that she could match wits with almost anyone.

“Where were you and Taylor the night your car was set on fire?” Alison questioned.

“I was at an RV park outside of Fairview.”

“And Taylor?”

“She was doing reconnaissance.”

“So…she wasn’t with you?”

“No.” Emily chewed on her lip. “It doesn’t bode well for either of us. I took this on. Taylor was my responsibility. And if the police find out I’ve been conspiring with her it won’t matter what our intentions are. At best, they find out that Taylor is alive. At worst they find out that neither one of us has an alibi for that night and we go down for a murder we didn’t commit.”

“You said you trusted Barry. Maybe he could help.”

“I considered that. In fact, before the body was found I was going to try and call in another favor. Apparently one of the private donors to Claire’s gala when she was assaulted was from a firm in Pittsburgh. Taylor and I think that might be who Nolan was going to see when he flew out there. The donation was anonymous, but I thought maybe Barry could look into it and follow the money and see where it led. But then I heard about the car…and the body. And I knew I couldn’t risk it.” She frowned. “He probably thinks I’m dead. Which…maybe it’s not such a bad thing. If I really am being watched like I think I am, it’s probably better for us that people think I’m dead.”

“Did you hit your head when I attacked you? That’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard. There is no world in which you’re dead that _anyone_ is better off.”

Emily smiled at her. She knew Alison was sensitive to thinking about her demise.

“I didn’t mean that in a literal sense. I just meant it’s probably safer to keep the people we care about out of whatever is happening in this town. They’ll keep it out of the public until they identify the body. But the police talk, and if Taylor is listening then so is the person who’s after her. If the person who is snooping thinks I’m dead then I have an advantage on this investigation. And if Barry thinks the body is me he’ll be too busy looking into confirming that to worry about what’s going on here.”

“But I already called him about needing his help. In the message I left I said it was for a school lecture. But I was going to ask him about the car. What am I supposed to say when he calls me back? I drunk dialed him?” Alison asked sarcastically.

“Just tell him you already figured out what you needed to know.” Emily suggested. “I’m starting to think that whoever this is knows _us_ , too. One slip up and we’re all screwed.”

“I can’t believe we’re going through this again,” Alison huffed. She looked at the stab wound she’d left in her wife’s side.

“Hey, we’ll get through it.” Emily assured her. “I won’t let anything happen to you. To us.”

Alison responded with a quiet nod. She reached into the first aid kit and pulled out an antibiotic salve. She squeezed the tube until her fingers were coated with it. She put her palm above the injury and then delicately traced the outlines of the cut with the salve. She sighed as she stared at it.

_I did this to her. I hurt her._

“Ali…” Emily knew exactly what she was thinking. “It’s not your fault.”

“Does it hurt?” Alison spread the salve around the gash.

“Not so much anymore.”

Emily tried to draw Alison’s attention away from the injury. She slid her fingers underneath Alison’s chin and forced her to look up. Alison looked into her sweet brown eyes and turned into an emotional mess.

“I was so scared for you,” Alison said softly. She tried to hold her emotions back, but seeing Emily and finding out everything that was happening with Taylor was too much. She felt a single tear slip down her cheek. Emily quickly thumbed it away. Alison closed her eyes and sighed. “You have no idea how much I missed you…”

“You have no idea how hard it has been for me to stay away.”

Alison knew they had a murder to solve. Two if they got involved in what was going on in Rosewood. She knew they needed to strategize. But all she could do was lovingly look at her wife.

“I don’t want you to leave again.” Alison felt herself getting emotional. Not much could get to her in the way of making her a sap, but Emily did it to her every time. “Can we stay? Just…just for a little while?”

Emily reached up and delicately brushed her fingers against Alison’s cheek. She moved her hair behind her ear and caressed her face. She didn’t answer with words. She answered with her actions. She laid back against the bed. Alison followed her.

She laid against Emily’s uninjured side. She pressed a kiss against Emily’s temple and moved her hand against Emily’s bare abdomen. Her palm came to rest on the divot between Emily’s ribs, where her abs were glistening with sweat.

Alison didn’t realize how much she’d missed the feel of her body. She closed her eyes and drew in a breath through her nose. Emily had a scent that was unique to her. It was like a natural calming agent, a pheromone that only Alison’s body responded to.

Emily was like the sun, and she pulled Alison in with a gravitational force that was unmatched. She was magnetic. Alison was like a butterfly attracted to a beautiful flower filled with nectar. The blonde couldn’t help herself as she moved closer. Her lips were on Emily’s an instant later. They both turned into one another. Emily gently gripped the side of Alison’s neck as Alison cupped her cheek.

Their lips moved together as they simply felt each other’s presence. Kissing Emily always awakened a part of Alison that felt trapped in the dark. Emily was the light. Alison slowly let the light in, opening the part of herself that she closed off to protect herself.

She gently put her palm against Emily’s side, careful to avoid her stitches. Emily slid her hand up underneath Alison’s top and her warm fingers landed gently against her ribcage. Alison felt her heart fluttering. A simple touch was all she needed.

They slowed their motions at the same time. Their eyes met as their lips parted. Emily saw such a softness in Alison’s face. Emily strummed her fingers through Alison’s hair. Alison moved their palms together and their fingers naturally linked together. She played with Emily’s fingers as they laid together quietly.

Neither one of them wanted to break the silence. Neither one of them wanted to part ways. But they both knew that in order to protect one another they had to keep up appearances. Alison stared at Emily’s hand. The brunette’s fingernails still had blood caked into them. The last thing Alison wanted to see happen again was Emily getting hurt. But she knew she couldn’t stop her. So instead she just held her. She just felt her warmth. She just laid with her. She’d missed lying next to her.

The room was quiet for nearly half an hour. They were perfectly content to be together in complete silence.

“What do we do now?” Alison asked, sounding disheartened.

“You keep working with Mona and I’ll keep working with Taylor.”

Alison couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. Emily was _her_ wife, yet Taylor was running around with her behind her back. She knew that Emily would never stray, but she didn’t like the idea of sharing her.

“You and Mona are doing great. Just keep doing what you’re doing. And stay below the radar. We’ll watch your backs.”

“But who is going to watch your back?”

“I’ll be okay. I’ve had a lot happen to me in my life. And I have yet to meet my match. Not even my own wife going full _Scream_ on me with a hunting knife can slow me down.”

“Maybe the next time you want to get in touch with me you shouldn’t leave cryptic messages for me in a dive bar.”

“Until we can put a name and a face to who wants to hurt the Hotchkiss family we have to assume everyone we care about is in danger.” Emily reminded her of the gravity of the situation. “That means your students and Mona, too. I know you’ve come to care about them. You came here to make a difference…to help them. And I know this isn’t exactly what you were planning, but they need you.”

Alison couldn’t argue with that. She’d developed a bond with Ava, Caitlin, and Dylan. And Mona felt like the sister she never wanted, but was learning to love anyway.

“We have to find out why Nolan was in Rosewood. Talk to Dylan. Find out what he knows.”

“I’ve _been_ talking to Dylan. He conveniently left out the fact that Nolan went to Pennsylvania.”

“Dylan might feel like he can’t tell you without telling you the _reason_ he went. He probably thought he’d betray Claire and Nolan both, because it all comes back to Claire being raped. And…”

“And it’s not his story to tell.” Alison had said the same thing to Mona just hours ago. “God, how deep does this run? Who else is hiding things?”

“We’re on the right track. We just have to be careful.”

“Dylan thinks that Nolan had a plan. And I’m starting to think he was pushing his friends away to protect them.” Alison admitted. “I’m surprised I didn’t see it sooner.” She locked eyes with Emily. “I did the same thing.”

“See, you can connect with these kids in a way that no one else can.”

There was a beat of silence. Then Alison sighed.

“I’m so sorry I pushed you away, Em.”

“We were young…”

“No. Not in high school. I mean I’m sorry I pushed you away when I came out here. I think…I think I was still trying to process everything that happened and instead of facing it with you I ran again.”

“But you didn’t.” Emily held her face gently with the palm of her hand. “You’re still here.” She caressed her cheek. Alison leaned into it. “I know that you never got the chance to discover yourself. I know this journey is a stepping stone in you coming into your own.”

Alison’s life had been one misstep after another. Her childhood was warped from her parents. Her teen years were stained and tarnished with the A drama. She’d been on the run, afraid for her life. And when she came back she didn’t know how to readjust. After her mother was killed she had started falling back on old habits, and then everything had happened with her arrest. Emily still had nightmares about how terrible it was for Alison behind bars. She still struggled with the guilt of putting her there. Alison didn’t hold it against her.

Even after they’d started life after high school Alison had been so preoccupied with Charlotte that she didn’t get the chance to experience life the way it should have been experienced. She’d only known death and abandonment. The happiness she thought she’d found with Elliott was nothing more than a mask for her pain. When he’d taken his revenge on her, her consequent stay at Welby and the resulting pregnancy had warped her even further.

Through it all the only moments of joy she experienced were moments with Emily. She hadn’t had a normal day since the night she’d been buried alive. It had caused her to shut herself down. She took pride in knowing everyone around her, but she had never gotten to know herself.

“You never had a shot at normalcy. I get that. I understand that better than anyone. I know you’re looking for something. You can search for as long as you need, sweetheart. I’ll still be here.”

Alison reached up and moved Emily’s fingers against her lips, gently kissing her fingertips.

“I love you.” Alison breathed against her fingertips before kissing them again.

“I love you, too.”

Alison knew she had to get back to Beacon Heights, but leaving her wife was so hard. She slipped out of the motel room. By the time she got back to her car she felt completely empty. She knew that Emily was alive, and safe…for now. But knowing that she was so close, yet so far away was hard to stomach.

But she knew it wasn’t going to be forever.

She took her time getting back to town, stopping at a few places on the off-chance that someone was watching her. She stopped to get a bite to eat and then browsed a local strip mall. Then she drove back to her house. She graded a few of her students’ assignments, and worked on some of her own assignments.

After she was sure that enough time had passed between her meeting with Emily and her ride back to town she texted Mona a set of numbers. Coordinates. She sent her a time and then walked out to the dead zone. It was the same place where she’d come to write and look at the stars the night Booker had interrogated her and the others at the bar.

The sky wasn’t dark yet, but the sun was starting to set. She saw orange and red streams of light casting shadows through the trees. She watched the colors change, and once again she wrote to her wife.

_“Emily, I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve someone as wonderful as you. The understanding that you have for my plight is more than I ever could have asked for. I know I wander, lost, sometimes. I know I have the tendency to run when I’m afraid. Yet you never fault me.”_

She peered at the light through the trees as it slowly faded. The trunks and the leaves created a mosaic effect on the paper of her journal. She started writing again.

_“Every time I see you I feel like the world isn’t messed up. You look at me and I feel like things are going to be okay. Much like the sun lights up the sky and warms the flowers that need the light, you are that part of me. I feel like your soul is holding on to mine, keeping it from giving in to the dark. And every time we’re away from one another, a piece of me is missing. You sparked a light in me that refuses to burn out. I love you.”_

She closed the journal just as she heard the crunching of approaching footsteps. She saw Mona coming through the trees.

“Hey.” Mona walked over to her as Alison was pushing herself off of the rock she was sitting on.

“Were you careful coming out here?” Alison asked. Now, more than ever, she was on high alert.

“I’m not an amateur, Alison.” Mona sniped. “What’s up? Is everything okay?”

“Not even remotely.” Alison shook her head. “I found out that Nolan went to Pittsburgh and Rosewood this past summer, and Dylan knew about it. And Taylor went out to Rosewood, too, but not at the same time as her brother. Taylor is _definitely_ still alive.” Alison saw a faint trace of blood on one of her fingernails. “Oh, and I stabbed my wife.”

Mona frowned and looked at her in confusion.

“I’m sorry, what?” Mona cocked her head. “Have you lost your mind?” She paused and then gasped in delight. “Wait, are you the crazy one now? Am _I_ the sane one?”

Alison rolled her eyes. She shook her head and then quietly explained everything that had happened. She told her about following Emily to the motel and then accidentally stabbing her, which Mona thought was hilarious for some reason.

Then she told her about Taylor and how she’d talked Emily into helping her. She explained Taylor’s suspicions that Nolan had discovered the truth about who had assaulted his mother, which had led to him being silenced. Alison told her about Nolan visiting Rosewood after his trip to Pittsburgh.

“Point one for Nolan. That’s actually brilliant.” Mona was impressed. “We get the roster of who was in attendance and then cross reference them to where everyone was living at the time.”

“Not everyone RSVPs to those things. My parents used to go to them all the time and half the time they were trashed before they got there. The last thing they would remember to do would be sign in.”

“That’s where photographs come in handy. I am already scouring pictures from that night. It was the first thing that came to my mind when I heard Claire’s story. I can run them through facial recognition software. It will give us a direction.”

“Yeah. And the sooner we can expose the truth the sooner my wife and I can try to get back to normal.”

“How is Emily, by the way?”

“You mean besides the gaping stab wound?” Alison gritted her teeth. “She refused to let me take her to the hospital. I just hope she doesn’t get gangrene or some horrible infection.”

“It’s the twenty-first century, not the _Oregon Trail_ days. With modern medicine she’ll be fine. She knows how to take care of a wound.”

Alison realized that Mona would know all about that, given her time with Emily in the dollhouse.

“I guess I have you to thank for that.” Alison glanced at the short brunette.

“ _Moi_?” Mona seemed surprised.

“She told me…about the dollhouse.” She saw a flash of pain on Mona’s face at the mention of it. “She told me about how she was hurt and you took care of her. Thank you for that.”

“It was the least I could do after she saved my life,” Mona said quietly.

“She saved you?”

“She’s Emily. She saves everyone.” Mona quipped back quickly.

“What happened?”

“Three days after they got there I did something that pissed A off. As punishment I was thrown into a pit. It was…it was like a giant well with water.” She tensed up at the thought of it. “I thought I was going to drown, but Hanna and Emily heard me calling out for help. Emily told Hanna to find something to lower in to get me out, but I went below the surface. Next thing I know there’s a splash and someone is pulling me up above the water. She jumped in after me.” She blinked back tears. “I was surprised she did it, to be honest. After everything I did to you all…”

“Like you said, she’s Emily.” Alison sighed. She still felt guilty as hell. And angry. She had a rush of mixed emotions about the whole thing. “She seemed so tired. I guess they’ve been looking for answers for as long as we have.”

“It’s a good thing they have. Now we know about Dylan and we can find out what he knows. And we know about Nolan going to Pittsburgh. We can also look into whatever firm he visited when he went. I think this is closer to being solved than we realize.”

“We need to be careful. This is the part where Nolan got himself killed.”

“It might be helpful to talk to Taylor about this.” Mona suggested.

“Emily said she’s neurotic.” Alison shook her head. “Almost paranoid. Which I guess I can understand. I’ve had someone out to get me, too.”

“Fair enough.” Mona nodded.

“Emily said that Taylor was really messed up the night she came to see her. Nolan’s death broke something in her.” Alison had a pensive look on her face. “Losing a sibling changes something in you. I don’t know how I’d cope if something happened to Jason. I mean, with Charlotte…even after everything she did…I don’t know, it’s just like…a piece of me went with her. I know that’s screwed up…”

Mona didn’t argue, but she didn’t say anything snarky either. She still had nothing but contempt for Charlotte, but given she was the one who had killed her she knew it wasn’t her place to say anything. The air was thick and quiet for several minutes.

“You know I wasn’t in my right mind when…”

“I know.” Alison nodded.

She hadn’t forgiven Mona for what she did, but she also knew that her actions were driven from a rush of anger and fear and confusion. Mona was a brilliant person, but sometimes her mind was impulsive and acted on its own accord before she could stop it.

Alison was concerned that everything that was going on in Beacon Heights might send her spiraling down the rabbit hole again. She’d been doing her best to keep an eye on her and make sure she was taking her meds and that she wasn’t disappearing into herself, but she was spreading herself too thin and she knew it.

She just didn’t want anyone getting hurt, including Mona. Then again, she’d attacked her own wife not hours ago. Maybe _she_ was the one in danger of losing it.

The immense pressure that the situation was putting on them was at a dangerous level. It had already driven one person to attempting suicide and had ended up getting another killed. What had started as harmless research for Taylor and Nolan had quickly spun into a game that was at a level that Alison had never seen before, not even during her days in Rosewood.

The game had escalated into more than just a brother and sister playing junior detectives. And the closer they got to uncovering Nolan’s killer, the more dangerous it was going to get. They were far closer to the truth than anyone realized. The past and the present were connected in more ways than one.

Alison’s arrival in Beacon Heights hadn’t been a coincidence. She was part of a bigger plan. And so was her wife. Neither one of them realized that they were being played, because they were both too concerned for one another’s safety to see anything else. It’s why they’d been enlisted in the first place.

Mona’s involvement had made things a little more complicated. But it had also added another level of intellect to the mix that was sorely needed. Alison and Emily were both highly intelligent in their own ways, but Mona Vanderwaal was another level of brilliant. Mona was crafty. Mona was cunning. Mona was wickedly smart. But she was no match for Taylor Hotchkiss and her wiles.

Beacon Guard wasn’t the only system that Taylor had designed. She had her own virtual spyware planted outside of Beacon Guard’s range. _Literally_ planted. Small microscopic camouflaged cameras that blended into the scenery. One was embedded in a thick rough patch of tree bark pointed directly at Mona and Alison.

Taylor watched them on a screen in an underground bunker, not unlike the dollhouse, just fifty feet away. It had been her safe spot for months after she faked her death. It had been her hiding place after she started getting threats after Nolan’s death. It was her own sanctuary. No one knew it existed. She hadn’t even brought Emily to it.

She stared at a text she’d gotten on her burner phone. There was an image of Alison and Mona attached to it. The subject line read _“She was buried once before. I’ll do it again.”_

She read the attached message again for what felt like the hundredth time.

_“You tell either one of them the truth about me and they’ll end up in the ground next to your brother. Then I’ll be coming for you.”_

She had no idea how he’d discovered she was alive. But she was absolutely terrified. For her mother. For herself. And for Alison DiLaurentis, a girl who had eluded death one too many times, something Taylor feared Alison might not be able to do again.

* * *

**A/N:** _Who knew the Hotchkiss kids were racking up so many miles going out to Pennsylvania? Ah, well, at least we’ve got Alison and Emily back to bickering like an old married couple, and with their combined knowledge we’re closer than ever to finding out what Nolan knew that got him killed. This was one of my favorite chapters to do not only because of the subtle moments between Emison, but because of the recognition of their past and how it’s still a part of them, and how they are still working to get over it (and fine, I miss writing the OG liars, too). Also, Mona should have been a doctor. I’m just sayin. Can't promise this speedy of an update with the next chapter. But I'll do my best.  
_


	9. Truth Hurts

**A/N:** _*slides in under the two month mark for update*_

_The updates for this one are slower than my other fics, and I apologize for that. To be completely honest, I took a step back from this story for a hot minute after “The Perfectionists” was cancelled because the fandom got a little heated, so I thought it might be a good idea for me to just chill with TP world while the dust settled a bit. I’m testing the waters to see how the temperature is now. How are we feeling, gang?_

* * *

  **Chapter 9:**

**Truth Hurts**

Alison had never been more distracted in her life. Taylor Hotchkiss was alive. Dana Booker was constantly on her ass. Her wife was running around in the shadows. And she was still in charge of corralling a bunch of ornery college kids. To top it all off she had her own course workload to do. She was beyond overwhelmed.

She hadn’t had the chance to talk to her students, though she knew they could tell that something was wrong. They were astute and observant. Dylan noticed how off-kilter she was in class. Every so often she would fumble in the middle of the lesson or stare at him a little too long.

He slipped a note to Caitlin. He knew better than to use a phone to share their private conversations.

Caitlin was annoyed by the disruption. She was trying very hard to keep up in class. She’d been losing sleep over the fact that Dana Booker had found the trail that led to her cheating scandal, which meant the woman knew about her mothers covering it up. She knew it was only a matter of time before it was out in the open. Dana had already tried to get her to throw her friends under the bus. She’d cornered her in the quiet study room across campus earlier that morning.

_“Ms. Park-Lewis, could you imagine what it would look like if a cheating scandal got out to your mother’s constituents during an election year?”_

_“What do you want from me?”_

_“I know you’re a good kid. I know you didn’t have anything to do with Nolan’s death. But I can’t say the same for your friends.”_

_“Ava and Dylan were with me. If you know I didn’t do it then you know they’re innocent by association.”_

Booker gave her a peculiar smirk.

 _“Interesting._ _You said they were with you. You never said where you were. It stands to reason that you could have witnessed something without being a party to it.”_

 _“The only thing I witnessed that night was a sad barista mopping up a tall skinny latte she dropped on the floor.”_ She’d grabbed her bookbag and stood up. _“I’m not giving you any dirt on them. Because there ISN’T any. You’re wasting your time.”_

She’d walked out of the room without looking back. It had been nagging her all day. She should have turned around and mean-mugged her.

She felt Dylan kick her under the desk, trying to get her attention back to the note.

Caitlin glanced over at him and scowled. It was a look that clearly said, _“I haven’t had my coffee yet, don’t mess with me.”_

Dylan nodded towards the note on her desk. His eyes kept darting towards Alison. He didn’t want her to see them and get suspicious. They had been honest with her from the start, but there were certain things they had omitted.

Caitlin slid the note open like a pro, slipping it in with her other papers, just in case Alison were to come by and take a closer look. She put the note on top and read Dylan’s messy writing.

 _Dylan, you know I love you, but you’ve got to stop writing in this damn doctor chicken scratch._ She squinted at the paper and finally made out what it said.

**_I think she might know._ **

Caitlin looked up at him, her eyes wide.

 _“How?”_ She mouthed.

Dylan shrugged. He glanced at Alison. Her eyes were on the book on her podium. She looked like she had something on her mind. Some kid in the back of the class was talking about alliterations and prose. No one was listening.

Caitlin scribbled her response and passed it back to him.

**_We need to get ahead of this or it’s going to look really bad._ **

Dylan looked at her and nodded. He answered her and passed it back.

**_We should tell her. She’ll believe us._ **

Caitlin nodded in agreement. She wrapped the note up and shoved it in her pocket. She’d burn it later. She knew how to destroy evidence.

Dylan was going to ask Alison to meet him to talk, but she beat him to the punch.

As she was passing back the graded assignments from the night before she paused at his desk and glanced at the paper as she put it down. Dylan made eye contact with her and then looked down.

On his paper, below his well-earned _A_ , Alison had written the coordinates to a safe zone and a time. But there were instructions he’d never seen before below the coordinates.

**_Just you._ **

Dylan swallowed a lump in his throat. He ripped off the coordinates and wrote a new note and passed it to Caitlin.

**_She DEFINITELY knows…_ **

Her face blanched. She couldn’t let this come back on Dylan. He hadn’t done anything wrong. She wrote back.

**_I’m coming with you. I’m not letting you take the heat for this alone._ **

_“Ava?”_ Dylan mouthed to her.

Caitlin looked over at their friend’s empty seat. Ava had been falling deeper into her depression lately. Caitlin knew Ava couldn’t handle it.

She shook her head.

Dylan scribbled something down and passed her another note.

**_Ava deserves to know._ **

Caitlin wrote back.

**_I’m running by her place after class to check on her. But I don’t think it’s a good idea._ **

Dylan nodded, relenting. He’d seen how much Ava had been struggling.

Caitlin and Dylan walked out with all the other students. They had to keep up appearances. Talking to Alison too much could be misconstrued by anyone who might be watching them.

They split up and finished their classes for the day. Caitlin went by Ava’s room and found her sleeping off a bender. Caitlin kicked a few plastic cups around as she walked into her room.

“Would you mind being a little less loud? I’m wallowing in my hangover here. Go play ‘kick the can’ somewhere that is not here.”

“Kick the…what?” Caitlin’s face scrunched up in confusion.

“Oh my God.” Ava sat up, rolling her eyes. “It’s like you were never poor before.”

“No, it’s like I was never 120 years old before.” Caitlin corrected her. “That game hasn’t been relevant since the stone ages. People get fined and arrested for kicking litter nowadays.”

“Fair point.” Ava shrugged. “So, what brings you by? Another murder? Who’s dead now?”

“Dylan and I are worried about you.” Caitlin sat down on the edge of Ava’s bed.

“Why? I’ve never been better.” Ava smiled sarcastically.

“You’ve been in those sweats for almost three days straight. You’re not even bothering showing up to class anymore. And is that…moldy pizza?” Caitlin looked at a paper plate on the nightstand.

“It’s my favorite topping.” Ava replied with a cocky look on her face. “It’s all the rage these days. I think it’s going to be bigger than quinoa and kale.”

“Great. Penicillin Pizza. Sounds like a real winner.” Caitlin snarked back. “Ava, this seriously needs to stop. What is going on with you?”

Ava laughed darkly.

“You’re seriously asking me that question?” She looked angry and offended. “Everyone is going back to their lives…like nothing ever happened…like Nolan didn’t exist…like he’s not dead. The only people who care are his mother, who is shifty as hell…” She reached for a plastic cup. Caitlin could smell the alcohol wafting from it, “…and the cops who are trying to pin this on us. So you’ll forgive me if I don’t want to put on a pretty little cocktail dress and socialize.”

“No one is saying you shouldn’t grieve.” Caitlin put her hand on top of Ava’s. “But if you keep skipping class you’re going to fall behind. I mean, Dylan and I are trying to stay on top of your assignments for you, but…”

“I didn’t ask you to do that.” Ava cut her off.

“You worked so hard to get here. Think about everything you could lose.”

“I already lost everything that mattered to me.” Ava stared at her friend with large sad eyes.

Caitlin sighed.

“Do you know if Alison and Mona were able to get anything off of that hard drive?” Ava asked.

Caitlin tried to keep a straight face.

“Uh…I’m not sure.” She hated herself for not being able to lie to her friend better. Her mother would be disappointed in her.

“He was _so_ angry in those texts.” Ava’s gaze was glassed over. She hadn’t noticed that her friend was fidgeting. “Do you think it could have been Claire? Do you think she did it?”

“I don’t know.”

“She always hated me.”

Ava hated Claire. She hated Beacon Guard. She hated it for existing. She hated that Nolan was dead. She hated that even though there were cameras all over the damn campus that not one of them had captured what happened to him.

“She doesn’t _hate_ you.” If Ava only knew what Claire was hiding…

“I never would have been good enough for her little boy. He told me as much once. It’s why he picked you to be his front woman. He knew his mother would be so head-over-heels with you that she wouldn’t see what he was doing in the shadows.” She let out a cynical laugh. “Turns out what he did in the shadows got him killed.”

Caitlin’s phone buzzed from her pocket. She glanced at the clock. She had to meet Dylan in ten minutes, but she felt bad leaving Ava. Ava noticed her looking at the time.

“You have somewhere you have to be?”

“No, I just set a reminder to hit the books for our quiz in Business and Marketing.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She saw a text from Dylan and slipped it back into her pocket.

She stood up, failing to realize that a scrap of paper had fallen on to Ava’s bed. Ava didn’t see it either.

“Do me a favor and close the curtains on your way out. Reality is harshing my buzz.”

“I’m coming back with dinner, and we’re going to talk this out.” Caitlin walked towards the door.

Ava didn’t tell her not to come back, which was a good sign. At the very least she wasn’t completely shutting her friends out.

Caitlin met up with Dylan and they went out to meet Alison.

They had no idea they were being followed.

They didn’t really talk much on the way. Both of them were too nervous about talking to Alison. She had been really weird in class and they were worried that she was going to turn on them, especially if she’d found out what they’d been hiding.

When they got out to the meeting spot they found Alison. She wasn’t by herself. She was standing next to a large boulder talking to Mona. Dylan stepped forward first, leaving Caitlin a few steps behind.

Caitlin thought she heard a noise behind her, but when she spun around there was nothing there. A few seconds later a squirrel darted through the trees. Caitlin jumped and gasped. She kept forgetting that animals scurried around in the woods. Of course, she had a reason to be jumpy. Someone had murdered Nolan, and that person was still roaming free.

She stepped in line behind Dylan.

“You said we were meeting alone.” Dylan was confused by Mona’s presence.

“No, I told _you_ to come alone…which you obviously did not do. You follow instructions so much better in class.” Alison shook her head.

“I don’t understand. Are we keeping secrets from each other now?” Dylan asked. “We’ve been in this together since the beginning.”

Alison and Mona glanced at one another. Dylan and Caitlin could see the hesitation on her face. Alison wasn’t sure whether she should say anything in front of Caitlin. She already felt awkward bringing up Claire’s sexual assault to Dylan, but according to Emily he already knew.

“It’s a sensitive matter.” Alison grimaced.

“Look, whatever you need to say to me you can say to Caitlin, too,” Dylan said. “I trust her.”

“It’s not about trust.” Alison could feel a heated pain rising in her stomach. Because she knew what it was like to be in Claire’s shoes…to not be able to tell anyone the awful truth. To have something she loved so much come from something terrible.

She felt Mona’s hand on her arm. She looked over at the short brunette, who was giving her a sympathetic look. Mona was one of the few people in her life who knew the truth about Lily and Grace.

“I promise I won’t say anything.” Caitlin could see the seriousness of the situation.

“It’s about Claire…” Alison looked at Dylan, trailing off as she tried to get a read on his face. She added, “And Taylor’s father…”

She saw the realization flash across Dylan’s face.

“You know about that?” Dylan asked. “How?”

“She told me.”

Dylan and Caitlin looked at one another. They had assumed something entirely different.

“ _That’s_ what this is about?” Caitlin questioned. “That psychopath rapist?”

Alison thought she saw something that looked like relief on their faces. Why were they _relieved_ to hear about this?

“Wait, you know, too?” Alison asked.

“I told her after Ava thought she saw Taylor at that bar,” Dylan explained.

“And Ava? Does she know?”

“We haven’t told her yet.” Caitlin replied.

“What did you mean when you said _that’s what this is about_?” Mona hadn’t missed the wording or the tone in Caitlin’s voice. She could tell they were sitting on something else.

“I just meant…” Caitlin clammed up. She hadn’t planned for this scenario. “Just that…it freaked us out when you were asking to speak to Dylan alone. We thought something horrible had happened.”

“No. That’s not it. You know something else.” Mona wasn’t buying her bullshit.

“What did you think I wanted to talk to you about?” Alison asked.

Dylan felt his heart speed up in his chest. He looked at Caitlin. He knew if they told Alison and Mona there was no taking it back. Caitlin had a determined look on her face, like she’d already made up her mind. Dylan shook his head.

“Caitlin, you don’t have to…”

“It’s okay.” Caitlin touched her friend’s arm. “It was bound to get out eventually. At least I can control the narrative here.”

“What did you do?” Alison asked, her tone worried.

“Nothing.” Caitlin promised. “It’s…it looks really bad, but I swear to you what I’m about to show you isn’t what you think.”

Caitlin reached into her pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag. She rolled it open and handed it to Alison. Alison stared at it. Inside the baggie there was a large class ring. It had the initials “NH” etched on one side. Alison almost dropped it when she realized what she was looking at.

“Is this Nolan’s?” Alison gawked at it. She inspected it. “Is that _blood_?”

“He was wearing it the day he died,” Caitlin said.

“How do you have this?”

“I don’t know. I found it in my room the day after he died. I don’t know how it got there. I hid it, because I knew how it would look.” Caitlin shuffled uncomfortably. “I didn’t know what else to do. I had it for about a week before I called Dylan. We were together that night when Nolan was killed. I knew I could trust him.”

Dylan pulled something out of his pocket. It was a matching bag. It had a locket in it.

“Turns out she wasn’t the only one who was getting played. Found this after she told me. Nolan and Taylor used to wear matching lockets. He was wearing this the night he died, too.”

“Unbelievable.” Mona took the bag from Dylan.

“Cate and I were together. Someone saw us together. They know that if one of us looks guilty…”

“The other is guilty, too.” Caitlin finished his thought.

“Someone is leaving calling cards?” Alison asked, horrified.

It was like something out of a serial killer documentary. Of course, she wasn’t surprised. Anyone who could rape a woman was capable of anything.

“You’re sure he was wearing these the night he died?” Mona asked.

“I saw him a few hours before. He came by to get the term paper I was writing for him,” Dylan said. They’d shared more than schoolwork that night. But no one knew that.

“Why wouldn’t Claire report these missing?” Alison questioned.

“Maybe she didn’t know. I mean…Nolan had _a lot_ of personal items.” Caitlin shrugged.

“We were going to throw them in the river, but we figured that if someone went to the trouble to try and frame us…it might come back on us even worse.”

“Has anything else like this happened? Have you gotten any threats or notes or anything?” Mona questioned.

She’d played the game enough to know exactly the kind of twisted mind they were dealing with.

“No. We think whoever did this sent these to us as a warning…something to let us know that they could easily make it look like we killed Nolan. If they can go to the extent to plant this evidence, who knows what else they have planned?”

“You should have told us.” Alison frowned. “We could have helped you.”

“No offense, but we didn’t know if we could trust you,” Caitlin said. “I mean, we’ve read the stories. We know your pasts…”

“Not that we are judging you on them.” Dylan intervened. “But you have to admit, your track record is a little scary.”

“Aw. Thank you.” Mona smiled.

Alison shot her a look and then rolled her eyes.

“Does anyone else know about this?” Alison asked.

“I don’t think Beacon Guard picked it up. Otherwise we’d both be sitting in a cell right now.” Dylan shook his head.

“What about Ava? Has she gotten anything like this?”

“We didn’t tell her.” Caitlin cringed. “She’s been in a really dark place. We thought it might have been a little too much for her.”

“Yeah. You’ve seen her. She’s drinking her weight in rum and starting bar fights. She’s really fragile right now. She is…”

“ _She_ is not an invalid.” They heard a voice coming from the trees, cutting Dylan off.

Ava walked into view. She’d finally changed out of her sweatpants. She walked over towards her friends, or two people she _thought_ were her friends. She was livid that they’d been keeping all of this from her.

“Ava, what are you doing here?” Caitlin asked in alarm.

“We don’t have a quiz in Business and Marketing.” Ava glared at her. “Next time don’t lie about something that can be fact-checked, Little Miss Politician. Even drunks know how to Google on their phone.” She stepped up next to her. “You just went out to get us some dinner, huh?” She scoffed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. It was one of the notes that Caitlin and Dylan had been exchanging in class. “You dropped something when you came to check on me.”

“We were just trying to look out for you.” Dylan sighed.

“I’m not a fucking China doll.” Ava glared at them.

“I really was coming back for dinner.” Caitlin assured her.

“Yeah, right after you two played Nancy Drew without me out of pity. I can’t believe you have been lying to me!”

“On the bright side, you’re out of bed.” Dylan tried to make light of the situation.

“Don’t you dare use those puppy dog eyes, Walker.” Ava growled. “How could you keep this from me?” She looked between her friends...angry, hurt, betrayed. “I have told you both _everything_. I _trusted_ you.”

“Ava, calm down.” Alison reached out to her.

Ava glared daggers at her.

“Don’t you start with me. What do you even know about it?” Ava snapped.

“About friends keeping secrets from each other?” Alison asked. “A lot. Believe me. I’ve been _exactly_ where you three are right now. When there is someone playing against you and trying to drive a wedge between you it’s easy to lose sight of what’s really important.”

“Which is what?” Ava questioned.

“Your friendship. Your loyalty to each other.”

“They’ve been lying to you, too. Aren’t you angry?” Ava asked.

“We’ve learned to pick and choose our battles.” Alison glanced at Mona.

“Though this seems like a pretty decent thing to take a shot over.” Mona stated. “Wars have started for less.”

“Not helping.” Alison cut her eyes at Mona.

Mona rolled her eyes and reined in her attitude. She faced the younger kids.

“Alison is right. There are outside forces at play here. And whoever it is knows that you’re stronger together, so they’re trying to pull you apart.”

“Ava, did anything like this happen to you?” Alison asked. “Has anyone threatened you or…”

“No.” Ava replied. “Nothing like…that.” She pointed to the jewelry. She extended her hand towards the bag. “Can I?”

Alison handed the bag with the ring in it to her. Seeing the small token of Nolan fractured something inside of her. But it also sent a burst of energy through her…an ire at whoever had killed him. She reached for the locket in Mona’s hand. Mona gave it to her.

“Claire bought this for him when he was born.” Ava’s eyes flooded with tears.

Thinking about him still hurt. Alison watched in curiosity…wondering if this was what Emily felt like after she’d faked her death back in high school. It was horrible to watch. She still carried around a lot of guilt.

“She got a matching one for Taylor, too. Nolan said it was the only reminder they had that no matter how screwed up their lives were…they had each other.” Ava’s voice cracked. “After she died he never took it off. Not even when we were…” She stopped herself short of telling everyone about their sexual encounters. “He was definitely wearing this when he was killed. There is no doubt in my mind.”

She squeezed the plastic against the locket. For a brief second it made her feel closer to him. She sighed and then gave the bags back to Alison.

“Do you think Beacon Guard could have caught whoever planted them coming to our rooms?” Caitlin asked.

“I mean…in theory.” Mona nodded. “Unless they’re hacking the system. But if _I_ can’t hack it, no one else is getting into it.”

“What about Taylor?” Ava questioned.

“What about her?” Alison asked.

“She’s alive, right?”

“Ava, just because you think you saw her that night…”

“Dylan, I know what I saw.” Ava wasn’t backing down.

Alison was torn on whether or not to tell them the truth about Taylor. Emily said it could be dangerous to tell people. But Alison also knew what lying was doing to all of them. Maybe whoever was after them _wanted_ them to be driven apart by their secrets. Alison glanced at Mona for advice.

They shared a silent conversation, trying to remain stoic, but the kids were too smart not to notice.

“You know something.” Caitlin was the first person to call it out. “Unbelievable. You’re lecturing us on not being honest and you’re doing the exact same thing.”

“Because what we know is dangerous.” Alison argued.

“Um…we have a dead man’s jewelry. I think we win.” Dylan pointed out.

“Whatever it is, we’re not going to get through this without laying _everything_ out there. So what is it?” Caitlin questioned.

There was a beat of silence. Alison thought about making something up. She thought about lying. She even thought about turning around and hauling ass, finding her wife, and completely bailing on this terrible town. But when she looked at Ava, Caitlin, and Dylan she saw shadows of her friends from the past. And she saw how she’d abandoned them in high school. And she never wanted to do that to anyone again. Her natural inclination was to run. But she was learning to stay.

“Ava is right. Taylor _is_ alive,” Alison said quietly.

Even though she knew they suspected it, she expected that they would be somewhat surprised. But none of them reacted. Ava turned and faced her friends.

“I told you.”

“I just found out.” Alison faced Dylan. “That’s how I was able to confirm that you knew about Taylor’s heritage. She knew that Nolan told you.”

“Wait, _Nolan_ told you?” Ava whipped her head over and looked at Dylan. Why would Nolan tell Dylan and not her? “Were you sleeping with him, too?”

“It wasn’t like that.” Dylan assured her. “It was…it was before you two got together.”

Of course, he left out all the intimate conversations they’d had. No one knew that what he’d had with Nolan went beyond just sex. They both had feelings for one another. Dylan would always feel guilty for cheating on his boyfriend. But nothing compared to the guilt he felt for going behind Ava’s back.

“God, what else don’t I know?” Ava growled.

“He probably didn’t tell you because he was trying to protect you,” Caitlin said.

“I am _so_ over the protection. He never coddled me over anything else. And you two shouldn’t either. I’m not a child. And I’m _way_ more angry than I am afraid. And angry gets things done.”

“No. Anger is the root of most problems. We have to think logically about this.” Caitlin argued.

Mona and Alison made eye contact, both of them feeling like they’d been dropped right back into high school again. They watched them bicker for a few minutes, letting them work it out. They knew that nothing they said would defuse the situation, so they let them go at it.

It deescalated itself. It ended with Ava telling her friends that they were either all in it together or not at all. Caitlin and Dylan agreed. No more lies.

“So…what do we do now?” Dylan faced Alison.

They had learned to turn to her in their time of need, which is the only reason that Alison hadn’t gone home to her wife and children. She knew these kids needed her.

“Mona and I will look into the Beacon Guard footage. And I’m going to try and get in contact with Taylor. This _Gone Girl_ routine has gone on long enough. You’re right. We all need to work together.”

“Is it possible that Nolan is still alive, too?” Ava asked hopefully. She knew she was being delusional, but she just couldn’t accept that he was gone.

Alison opened her mouth to reply, but she didn’t know how to respond. She stuttered out something unintelligible and said _“good job, dumbass”_ to herself in thought before closing her mouth. Mona looked at her like she was having an aneurysm. Alison shrugged helplessly. Because what did you say to something like that?

She didn’t have to say anything. Ava knew the answer to her question before she’d asked it.

“It had to be the wrong Hotchkiss that came back,” Ava uttered.

Caitlin reached out to touch her shoulder. To everyone’s surprise, Ava didn’t pull away. They stood in silence for a few seconds.

“I need a minute.” Ava felt her eyes stinging.

She was so tired. And angry. And her alcohol was wearing off. So she was starting to feel things again.

She stormed off. Caitlin watched her go. She looked at Dylan.

“I’m going to…”

“Yeah. Yeah, go.” Dylan nodded. “I’m right behind you.”

Caitlin took off after Ava to make sure she was okay. Mona had a precarious look on her face. She stared into the distance and frowned. Her gaze slowly met Dylan’s. She wanted to make sure Ava was out of earshot.

“Okay, I’ve been to twenty different therapists in my life, so I’m allowed to say this. That girl needs a shrink.”

“We’ve been trying to get her to go for weeks.” Dylan peered to where his friends had disappeared. “She’ll find her way back. She always does.”

“She’s been like this before?” Alison asked.

“After her family was left in shambles.” Dylan nodded. “And she said that she was always a little unbalanced when she was a little girl. Though, to be fair…when you come from a messed up family you tend to live your life unbalanced. Nolan was her pillar. She’s trying to learn how to swing without that safety net.” He looked back over his shoulder. “She’ll figure it out. She has us.”

“Good.” Alison was glad to hear that. She never would have gotten through her messed up childhood without her friends. She knew the importance of having a good support system.

“I…uh…I should go find them.” Dylan shuffled his feet against the forest floor. “Are we done here?”

“Yeah.” Alison nodded. “Yeah, I think so. Just one more question. Did Nolan tell you anything else?”

“Like what?” Dylan asked.

“He apparently went to Pennsylvania. He went to Pittsburgh and also came to Rosewood…which is where I’m from. Did he say anything about that?”

Dylan thought about it for a few seconds, trying to remember if he knew anything pertinent.

“I remember that trip. He had me cover his assignments. He didn’t say much about it. Just…something about having family back east. He said he needed to go for closure after what happened to Taylor…” He made a face, “…which makes no sense now. Because he knew Taylor was alive.” He furrowed his brow in thought. “Maybe that’s where Taylor was hiding out. Maybe he went to see her.”

Alison had another idea. Maybe he’d gone to confront the man who had sexually assaulted his mother and things had gone sideways. Maybe he’d pushed the wrong buttons…asked the wrong questions to the wrong people. If he’d pissed the wrong person off, it could have been what led to his death. She looked at Mona, and she could tell she was thinking the exact same thing.

“If anything else comes up I’ll let you know.” Dylan looked at the plastic bags with the ring and locket in them. “For real this time.”

Alison nodded. Dylan walked off after his friends. Mona and Alison sat down against the large boulder.

“Well, that was…eventful.” Mona wasn’t sure what to say. She was observing the locket. “Strange that the killer would keep these trinkets. If it was a crime of passion or for revenge you wouldn’t think that the person who did it would care so much about making it personal for his friends. It’s hard to believe that a man who savagely attacked Claire would stop to take the time to gather Nolan’s things…unless he knew what he wanted to do with those things.”

“You think it was planned?”

“It was definitely planned. Someone lured him out there under the premise that he was meeting you. This person had enough foresight to know exactly how he’d react and they had the premeditated intent to frame those closest to him. The only thing I can’t figure out is how they got their hands on these things before the cops showed up. He hadn’t been dead for two minutes before the authorities were speeding towards the scene. You have to factor in how someone could get down from the rooftop, take his personal items, and then make it out of there without being seen. Unless…” She drifted off.

“Are you saying you think that there are two people involved here?” Alison asked.

“Ali, there are always two people involved.” Mona said, looking up from the jewelry. “Even when I was playing the game I had my minions.” She played with the locket, which was still sealed inside the baggie. “Caitlin said this showed up the night after Nolan died. You have to wonder if it had been an outsider…would people not have noticed the _day_ after there was a murder in their town if there was a stranger lurking around student housing?”

“Hopefully Beacon Guard will have that answer.”

“Hopefully,” Mona said, her voice somewhat distant. “What do you make of Ava not having any heat on her?”

“I don’t know.” Alison stared at Nolan’s ring. “I guess it’s a little odd that she wasn’t included in this little conspiracy. But maybe Nolan was only wearing the ring and the locket that night. Maybe that’s all the killer had. Or…maybe whoever is doing this has seen her pain and decided she’s suffered enough. Or maybe…maybe whoever this is has something worse in mind for her.”

Mona started walking the circuits of her brain. She was trying to calculate what that could possibly mean. Maybe this person had a soft spot for Ava. But how did that connect to what had happened to Claire? How could the killer be connected to the assault _and_ to Ava? Or were they two separate things? What if the killer had help?

Mona was so lost in thought that she didn’t realize that Alison had gone silent. Alison was swimming in her own thoughts. This murder was bringing up a lot of her history that she’d worked hard to overcome. But it was hard to ignore something when it was right in front of your face. Mona saw the look in her eyes, and she made an educated guess about what was bothering her.

“You okay?” Mona asked. “You looked a little green when you were talking to them about Claire’s assault.”

“Time heals, but it doesn’t make you forget,” Alison sighed. “I still remembered being strapped down on that gurney. And I remember taking that pregnancy test. And finding out the truth…” She chewed on her lip. “Don’t get me wrong. I love my girls more than anything. But it still hurts sometimes. It’s something Emily and I both struggle with.”

Mona knew there wasn’t much she could say to help her. So she just reached over and gently squeezed her knee.

“I know it probably doesn’t mean anything coming from me, but for what it’s worth…you and Emily are two of the most badass women I know. You both had something horrible happen to you, but you managed to come out stronger…and more importantly…with hearts full of love, which is honestly more than I can say for most people. Myself included.”

“Thank you, Mona. It means more than you think it does.” Alison smiled. “And for what it’s worth, you’re pretty badass yourself.”

Mona laughed. She had a strange look on her face.

“What?” Alison noticed her smile.

“Nothing.” Mona laughed softly. “It’s just…we used to be mortal enemies. And look at us now. Getting philosophical in nature.”

“Yeah, well, I figure…your attempted murder days are behind you, right?”

“For now.” Mona teased. Her smile faded. “I know I did some pretty terrible things to you and the girls. But I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you.”

“You already have.” Alison assured her. “Besides, what you did pales in comparison to what Charlotte did. And Alex and Mary…” She clenched her jaw in anger. “Don’t even get me started on those two. With Charlotte…I get it. I mean, it probably sounds shitty to say that. But I understand why she turned out the way she did. She only knew hate her entire life. Our father was awful to her. He locked her up in a nuthouse when she was just a kid. But Alex…I don’t understand her at all. All she had to do was meet with Spencer. If she had actually tried to get to know us instead of assuming we were to blame for Charlotte’s death she would have realized we didn’t kill her.”

“Except…I _did_ kill her.” Mona pointed out.

“That isn’t the point. She could have gotten to know us. She could have been family. We would have accepted her. But she went off the rails for some whiny petty little shit. So she wasn’t raised with a silver spoon in her mouth. So what? A lot of people have bad childhoods. But she was alive. She survived. I mean…how could she be mad at her sister for not knowing she existed? And how could she do the things she did?”

“She violated you and Emily in the worst possible way,” Mona said in understanding. “She was…obsessed.”

“You spent some time with her. Did she ever tell you why she did it? Why she upended our lives like that?”

“She didn’t trust me that much.” Mona shook her head. “In fact, there were times I was sure she was going to slit my throat in my sleep. She didn’t like being crossed.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t stupid. You didn’t cross her.”

“I did when I was motivated enough.” Mona kicked her feet out and leaned back against the rock. “There were things she did that were even too much for me.”

“Like what?”

Mona smacked her lips together. She pushed her mouth into a tight line as she thought back to Aria and Ezra’s wedding rehearsal. Everyone was trying on their dresses for the final fitting.

Alex had already integrated herself into Alison’s posse, and no one suspected a thing. She was pulling off being Spencer brilliantly. They’d been laughing and taking pictures and playing with Lily and Grace, and everything was going well.

But then Grace had gotten fussy and “Spencer” had offered to walk her around outside to see if she’d calm down. And of course, at the time, no one knew it wasn’t Spencer. So no one objected to her walking out of the church with Alison and Emily’s daughter.

She’d disappeared around the corner, out of sight. She’d bounced Grace around and talked to her to try and get her to settle down. Grace kept looking at her and scrunching her little forehead up.

 _“Aw, see, it ain’t so bad, is it?”_ Alex asked. Grace was whimpering and squirming in her grasp. It’s like she knew it wasn’t her Aunt Spencer.

Alex smiled at the infant. She could see Wren every time she looked at the twins. It made her feel connected to him. It was a living part of him she could keep forever.

She’d looked around. She’d worked for a long time perfecting her “Spencer” get-up, though sometimes she worried that someone would discover the truth. If that happened she would lose her new friends _and_ Wren’s daughters. And that simply wasn’t an option.

 _“You’re alright, Gracie.”_ Alex assured the baby. _“You’re a good wee baby. Your daddy would love you so…”_

Grace chewed on her fingers and whimpered.

_“Hey, how would you like to take a trip with your Auntie Alex, huh? It could be just you and me. I’ll give you everything I never had. What do you say, niblet?”_

Grace’s round little eyes were brimming with tears. She babbled and cried softly.

 _“You look just like your daddy.”_ Alex kissed her forehead and started walking away from the church.

 _“What do you think you’re doing?”_ A voice called from behind her.

Alex stopped in her tracks. This was exactly what had happened with Ezra. He’d caught her off-guard and she’d had no choice but to drag him to her bunker where she was holding Spencer captive.

When she turned around she saw Mona. She breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the shadows.

_“Mona. What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be with my better half.”_

_“She’s fine. Out like a light. It’s covered.”_ Mona looked at the fussy baby in her arms. And she knew exactly what Alex was planning. _“I’m going to ask you again, what are you doing?”_

_“Walk away, Mona.”_

_“Why do you have Emily and Alison’s daughter?”_

_“They only have her because of ME. Me and Wren. We was what gave her life…”_

_“Yeah. You two and the doctor you paid to impregnate a woman against her will. Even I never stooped that low.”_

_“They have two. It’s greedy of them not to share.”_

_“The babies are off-limits.”_ Mona stood in front of her, refusing to let her walk away. _“I’ve played by your rules this long, but I am not going to let you make this move. This is too much.”_

 _“Have you forgotten who is in charge here?”_ Alex rebuffed.

 _“I’m perfectly fine with the plan. But this isn’t part of it.”_ Mona looked at Grace, who had a sad look on her face.

She knew she needed to get the baby away from Alex.

 _“You know you’re only here cuz you got a pity invite,”_ Alex said hatefully.

 _“And you’re not really here at all.”_ Mona clapped back. _“Spencer is.”_

 _“Don’t say that name to me.”_ Alex twitched.

Grace started to cry again. Mona tried to keep the mood calm. The inner beast in her wanted to bulldoze Alex and rip Grace out of her hands. But she knew the little girl could end up hurt. Alison and Emily already hated her. She didn’t need another reason for them to want her dead.

 _“Do you really want history to repeat itself? You want to take her away from her mothers? Her sister? Look at what that did to you and Spencer.”_ Mona pointed out.

_“I AM Spencer!”_

Grace cried louder.

 _“It’s okay, Grace.”_ Mona assured her. She looked at Alex. _“Tone it down. You’re scaring her.”_

 _“If I want your opinion…”_ She paused and then laughed, _“No, I’ll never want your opinion…”_

 _“You’re so close to getting what you want. Don’t go off-script here.”_ Mona slowly reached out. _“Here. Give her to me.”_

_“No.”_

_“Don’t test me, Drake.”_ She wasn’t leaving until Grace was safe with her mothers again.

 _“Or what, Vanderwaal?”_ She spit back.

 _“Or I’ll expose your whole game here. Don’t forget who started the A-game in the first place. I know how to play dirty.”_ Mona growled. _“Now give me the damn baby.”_

Alex didn’t move. Neither did Mona. They both stood their ground, waiting for the other to blink.

Thankfully, it was Alex who blinked first. She glared angrily at Mona as she passed Grace off to her. Mona breathed a sigh of relief when she had the baby in her arms. Oddly enough, Grace stopped squirming.

Alex stormed off in a huff. Mona watched her go. Mona walked back towards the church, trying to come up with an excuse as to why she had Grace. Lying for Alex wasn’t easy.

Grace was still sniffling.

 _“Hey, you’re okay.”_ Mona smiled.

She had always loved babies. But that love cut her deeply, because she’d made the decision long ago that she would never have any kids of her own. She knew it wouldn’t be fair to bring a child into her life given her past discretions with mental instability. She was afraid she might go off the rails and do something that could hurt them. So she’d made peace with the fact that she would have to live vicariously through others when it came to children.

 _“We’re going to find your mommies, okay?”_ She rubbed Grace’s back to soothe her.

Grace gripped her shirt and leaned forward, her tiny fingers squeezing the fabric of her designer top, leaving slobber and applesauce stains on it. But Mona didn’t care. Grace laid her head against Mona’s chest and let out a burp. Mona pat her back gently and she burped again. Grace looked up at Mona, the stress on her face fading away.

 _“Oh, was that why you were so fussy? Those peaches you had at breakfast were coming back on you, huh?”_ Mona smiled.

When Grace smiled back at her, Mona thought her heart might melt. She looked so sweet and innocent. Alex was wrong. The twins had their mother’s eyes.

Mona made a silly face at the baby and she giggled.

_“Mona?”_

When Mona turned around she saw Emily walking towards her.

_“Emily, hi.”_

_“Mamamama.”_ Grace babbled and reached for her.

Mona handed her over immediately.

_“Spencer felt sick. She was afraid she was going to pass out and she didn’t want to be holding Grace when it happened. I was just about to come find you and go after her to make sure she’s okay. Can’t have one of the bridesmaids hurl on her dress before the wedding.”_

_“Right.”_

_“Mamamama.”_ Grace continued cooing.

_“She was just a little gassy. She should be fine now.”_

_“Thanks.”_

_“Don’t mention it.”_ Mona started to walk away.

Emily didn’t miss her strange behavior. She reached out and gently grabbed Mona’s wrist.

 _“Hey…are you okay?”_ Emily asked.

_“Never better.”_

Before Emily could ask any follow-up questions Mona quickly paced away. She’d never felt adrenaline quite like she’d felt that day. Because it had been her against Alex, and it had been Grace’s life at stake. And she’d never cared about anything more.

She regretted a lot of what she’d done in the past, but not that day. In fact, she looked back on that day with pride.

She was careful about how she told the story to Alison. She still hadn’t told anyone that Alex claimed Wren was the twins’ father. She wasn’t sure she wanted them to know. Alison struggled enough over the fact that she had essentially been raped. She wasn’t sure putting Wren’s face in her mind was such a good idea, especially given that if she did tell her, Alison might start to see features in her daughters she didn’t want to see.

Mona waited for Alison to blow a gasket over the fact that Alex had tried to kidnap Grace. After all, Alison turned into a monster over her kids.

“I’m going to kill her.” Alison was angrily wringing her hands together.

“Alex or Emily?” Mona asked for clarification.

“Did Emily know?”

“I told her before I left for Paris.” She hadn’t felt right taking off without at least one of them knowing the truth about that day.

“Then I’m going to kill them both.”

“To be fair, you already tried to kill Emily. Didn’t exactly take.”

“That bitch came after my babies?” Alison growled.

“As far as I know, just Grace that one time.”

“Tell me she’s six feet under. Tell me she’s dead and buried somewhere.”

“I um…I honestly don’t know what happened to her. But I _can_ tell you that she’s never setting foot on this continent again. I hacked into the no-fly list and her face is all over it. She’s never getting anywhere near you all again.”

“Wow, you broke federal law for us?” Alison was taken aback.

“Are you really that surprised?”

“I guess not. That’s like a typical Saturday afternoon for you.”

“It’s the least I could do. I mean, I did try to kill you that one time.”

They both laughed.

“We should go.” Mona looked at Nolan’s belongings. “We need to look into this. I need to browse through Beacon Guard to see if I can find anything…”

Before Mona could finish her sentence Alison reached up and grabbed her arm. She put her index finger against her lips. She’d heard something shuffling around in the woods next to them.

“Do you hear that?” Alison whispered.

She slowly climbed to her feet. She was ready to run. Mona followed her motions.

“We can’t be found with these on us.” Mona said quietly, shoving the ring and locket in her pocket.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

They started briskly walking away. They hadn’t gotten very far before the person in the shadows caught up to them. A large twig snapped underneath someone’s foot. When Alison spun towards the noise, a hand shot out and grabbed her.

Alison drew her hand back to throw a punch, but Mona grabbed her wrist to stop her. When Alison looked at the person’s face she realized why.

“Taylor?” She’d almost done the exact same thing to Taylor she’d done to Emily. Attack first, ask questions later.

“Welcome to the meeting of the not-dead-girls club.” Mona sniped caustically.

Taylor sized Mona up. Mona didn’t know it, but Taylor was the reason she’d been selected to be part of Beacon Heights University in the first place. She’d brought Mona to Oregon, just like she’d brought Alison to Oregon.

“You don’t look surprised to see me. I’m assuming this one told you everything?” Taylor motioned to Alison.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, too.” Alison uttered sarcastically.

“It’s not safe out here. Come with me.” Taylor pulled Alison off the path, forcing her to follow her.

Mona followed them. Taylor led them away from the path. They walked until they came to a clearing. Taylor walked over to a large pile of brush and leaves. She started kicking some of it aside.

“What’s this about?” Alison asked. “Is it my wife? Is Emily…”

“She’s fine...considering you _stabbed_ her.” Taylor was still surprised Alison had come at Emily that hard. “How do you stab your own wife?”

“Because she pisses you off by falling off the radar and making you think she’s dead.” She stared at Taylor. “Sound familiar?”

Taylor ignored Alison’s cattiness. She knew that the blonde was at her wit’s end. She’d been through a lot since she’d arrived in town.

Taylor’s foot hit the handle of the cellar door she was looking for. She leaned down and pressed her finger against a homemade camouflage touchpad and the door slid into a compartment, opening up a hole in the ground with short wide stairs that led to an underground storm cellar.

“Oh, _hell_ no.” Mona took a step back.

“It’s safe. I promise.” Taylor motioned for them to follow her. “We have to get out of the open. Someone else is out here…”

Alison looked at the small dark area skeptically.

“Alison, I can’t…” Mona shook her head.

“You can’t stay out here alone.” Alison took her hand. “We’ll be fine. We’re together.”

Mona took a shaky breath, but she followed Alison’s lead. Once they walked inside, Taylor hit a button and the door closed. When they looked up at the door they saw that it still looked open. It was a digital projection to bring sunlight in to help light the path. From the outside, it looked like a patch of dry dirt. Mona was so impressed with the technology that her fear took a backseat to her curiosity.

“Did you design this?” Mona asked.

“I had to have a place near campus to be able to keep an eye on things. I couldn’t risk being found after I faked my death. I designed this place to be a sanctuary of sorts.” She slid open a larger door.

It opened into a huge area filled with technology and surveillance equipment. There was a small living area, a fridge, and a bed.

“What is this place?” Alison rubbed her arms.

“Nolan called it my hidey-hole. It serves as a quick getaway if I need a place to hide close to campus.”

“Is there any possibility we can discuss this _anywhere_ else? I have a thing about underground bunkers.” Mona flinched. She felt Alison squeeze her arm. “I was held captive in one…”

“Right. Of course.” Taylor frowned. “I’m so sorry. Um…hold on. Just…give me a minute.”

She walked over to a large keypad. She typed something in and they heard a noise above them. The same projection that was used for the cellar door appeared on the ceiling, giving them clear skies to look at.

“Does that help?” Taylor asked.

“Not really.” Mona grimaced. She still felt trapped.

“We won’t be here long. I just have to make sure we’re clear before you two go back to campus.” She looked at them. “Do you have my brother’s ring and his locket? I heard you talking about it.”

Alison looked at her in confusion.

“How did you…”

“I found you through Beacon Guard remote on your phone.” Taylor pointed towards Alison’s pocket.

“You brought your _phone_?” Mona scoffed. “Jesus, have you learned _nothing_?”

“My brother’s things, please?” Taylor extended her hand.

Alison and Mona handed the pieces of jewelry over to her.

“I can run these through the system. See if I can get any fingerprints from them.” She sat down in a chair in front of her computer system. “I had an AI interface scan facial recognition and patterns for anything out of the ordinary the night after he died. The algorithm scoured the footage of Caitlin and Dylan’s places and didn’t pick anything up.”

“Did you understand any of that?” Alison asked Mona quietly.

“Yeah. Yeah, I got it.” She was following what Taylor was saying with ease.

“You said we weren’t alone out there. Was someone else watching us?” Alison asked.

“Not watching specifically. But they were looking for you.” Taylor pulled up a security camera.

“How has no one noticed that these woods are bugged with cameras?” Mona leaned over Taylor’s shoulder to get a better look.

“Because I’m _that_ good.” Taylor shrugged.

Mona seemed to take offense to that. She didn’t like it when people tried to act smarter than her.

“It’s a program I created. I designed it to fit in with nature.”

Alison stared at Taylor in surprise. Emily was right. Taylor was like Charlotte-level freaky with the technology.

“Where are you, you bastard?” Taylor uttered to herself.

Alison and Mona looked at one another in alarm.

 _“Is she crazy?”_ Mona mouthed the words “Is” and “she” and then put her index finger up towards her head and spun it around in a circular motion when she mouthed “crazy”.

 _“I don’t know.”_ Alison mouthed back with a confused shrug.

“There.” Taylor stopped on a camera and zoomed in on an image of someone walking through the woods.

The person’s face was occluded. Whoever it was was smart enough to know that there were cameras everywhere. They watched for a few seconds. The person stopped at a break in the trees and reached underneath their shirt.

“Is that a gun?” Alison looked closer. “Oh my God. We have to go. The kids are out there alone.”

“No. No, they’re fine.” Taylor pulled up another surveillance video. “As soon as Ava took off I knew where they were going to end up. She always goes to the docks when she’s out here. It’s okay. I’ve got them covered.”

She pulled up another security camera. Ava, Caitlin, and Dylan were standing near the docks. Dylan and Ava were talking. Caitlin pointed to something. A car pulled into the frame. The passenger’s side window rolled down.

Alison was surprised to see Emily behind the wheel, though if she didn’t know her wife she wouldn’t have recognized her. Emily put Alison’s silly little high school disguises to shame.

“You called my wife?”

“It’s a tactic that’s been working for weeks. We can cover more ground like this.” Taylor explained.

“She shouldn’t be out running around. She’s got a damn hole in her side.” Alison grumbled.

“Which you sewed up.” Mona reminded her.

They watched as Emily leaned over and talked to them. She handed Dylan something that looked like a small square piece of paper.

“What is she doing?” Alison asked.

“She’s showing them a picture of the two of you with your girls so they know they can trust her.”

Something in the kids’ expression changed and they hurried into the car. Emily quickly drove away. Alison made a mad dash for the exit.

“Where are you going?” Taylor turned around.

“There is some maniac with a gun out there. My wife has already been through enough. I won’t watch her get shot, too.”

“She’ll be okay.”

“You can’t know that!”

Seconds later there was a jingling noise coming from the computer. Taylor hit a button, and suddenly they were looking at Emily. She had an earpiece in. She had on dark sunglasses and a blonde wig. The camera was angled so they could see Dylan and Ava in the back of the car.

“Hey, you there?” Emily asked, her eyes trained on the road in front of her.

“See? She’s fine.” Taylor pointed to the screen. “Go ahead, Emily. The line is secure.”

“Tell me what we’re doing here. Where am I going?” Emily asked.

“Town is your safest bet. Coordinates show he’s closer to me.”

“Yeah, so drive your ass to Calcutta and don’t look back.” Alison moved towards the monitor.

“Alison?” Emily looked away from the road. “Hey.”

“Don’t you _hey_ me, Emily DiLaurentis-Fields. Why are you out there risking your life when you _just_ got a knife to the gut?”

“Well, _dear_ , seeing as how you are the one who was holding that knife, I’m statistically safer now than I was then.”

“Ohh, Vivian Lightbloom has some cojones.” Mona couldn’t help herself. She’d never seen Emily with blonde hair before. It looked kind of hot on her.

“Hey, Mona.” Emily waved.

“Glad you’re alive. We should get tea sometime.” Mona replied.

“I was thinking more along the lines of margaritas…”

“Okay, can we please take stock of the situation?” Alison asked. “This person has a gun.”

“So do I.” Emily didn’t seemed fazed.

“Wait, what?” They could hear Caitlin off-screen.

“It’s fine. My dad was in the army.” Emily replied.

“Your wife is a total badass, Alison.” Ava leaned towards the front seat.

“More like total dumbass,” Alison muttered.

“I can _hear_ you, Ali.” Emily glanced at the screen.

“Good.” Alison didn’t back down. “I stand by my statement. You _are_ a dumbass.”

“You are so stubborn.” Emily rolled her eyes.

“ _I’m_ stubborn? Excuse me, I…”

“Okay, Thelma…Louise…let’s take it down a notch.” Mona intervened.

“Emily, just get them back to town. They’ll be safe when they’re in Beacon Guard’s range,” Taylor ordered.

“Got it. I’ll check in with you later.” Emily nodded. She reached up to hit the ‘end call’ button, but paused. “Ali? You still there?”

“Yeah.” Alison replied. “I’m here, Em.”

Emily glanced at her.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Alison felt a lump swelling in her throat. She hated that Emily was in danger. “Please be safe.”

“You too, sweetheart.”

The call disconnected. Alison let out a frustrated breath.

“What now?” she asked Taylor.

“Now…” Taylor toggled her screen until she found the person lurking in the woods. “We set a trap and take him down.”

“Who is he?” Mona asked.

Taylor watched the screen, glaring angrily at the person on it.

“Taylor…” Alison put her hand on the younger girl’s shoulder. “Who are we dealing with?”

Before Taylor could answer, the person stopped walking and turned towards the camera. There was a black mask over his face and they could see a ski mask protruding from underneath it. He was tall and he looked bulky, though it was hard to tell because of the clothes he was wearing. He walked directly towards the camera. He observed the area around it.

“He knows.” Taylor’s eyes were glued to the screen.

His mask covered the entire monitor. They could see something moving off-screen. Seconds later he moved back and lifted a notepad. He’d written three words.

_I see you._

He leaned back. Taylor watched him open and close the locket she’d left for him to find. She knew he wouldn’t be able to resist coming to find her. Her plan was coming to fruition. Things were falling into place exactly how she wanted them to.

The camera cut off.

“Taylor, what is going on?” Alison asked. “What did you do?”

“Exactly what she was told to do.” They heard a voice echoing from behind them.

They turned around and saw Claire walking towards them.

Alison’s first initial thought was,

_How the hell did she sneak in here?_

Her second was,

_Is she seriously wearing heels in this terrain?_

Alison glanced at Mona and saw a twinge of panic on her face. She’d been trapped in that bunker with Charlotte for _months_ and it was all coming back to her.

Mona was trying not to panic, but the room suddenly felt smaller and she felt like she was running out of air. Her eyes were darting around, looking for any way out. Alison held her hand up and quietly told her to breathe.

“Claire, what is this?” Alison stepped in front of Mona.

Alison was expecting a fight. And she was ready for her.

But Claire’s stance was non-confrontational. She certainly didn’t _look_ like she was going to lock them away underground and throw away the key.

“I apologize for the runaround, ladies.” Claire’s heels clacked against the ground. “I certainly didn’t mean to drag you into this.”

“Into what?”

“ _This_ is the man who raped me.” She pointed to a still shot of the masked man on the screen. “I’m afraid my son went looking for him and found him. And because of that, my little boy is never coming home.” Her voice broke. “So Taylor and I are taking matters into our own hands.” She tapped a button on the screen. “Once he found out that Taylor was alive we knew he’d come looking.”

“But I thought you didn’t remember who he was. Did…” Alison reached out to give her a comforting touch, “…do you remember him?”

Claire looked at Alison’s hand on her arm.

“I still don’t have a name.” Claire admitted. “But I’ll know him when I see his face. And when I do I want my face to be the last thing he ever sees. I plan to rid the world of him once and for all.”

“My brother planted the seed when he went out to Pennsylvania. He knew that if he spread gossip to the right people he would come looking. We just didn’t expect…” Taylor glanced at the ground with tears in her eyes. “We thought Nolan was safe with Beacon Guard…”

“How can you be sure this guy didn’t just send someone to do the dirty work?” Alison asked.

“It’s none of your concern,” Claire said. “You two have already screwed things up enough. Please, just let me handle it from here on out.”

“Claire, we can help you. Listen, we think that there were two people involved in Nolan’s death. If we could just…”

“Whatever you think you know, you’re wrong. This runs deeper than you realize, and I don’t want you involved more than you already are. Taylor will see that you get back to town safely.” Claire waved Alison off. “But before you go I need your word you won’t tell anyone about this. My family has been through enough turmoil.”

“Why involve my family?” Alison was curious.

“Things were derailed after Nolan was killed. We had to get creative. I really am sorry, though. I know you’ve been through hell. When I brought you out here I was truly trying to give you a fresh start. I thought you two, of all people, deserved a clean slate.” She glanced at the cameras. “I’m proud of what we’ve built here. Beacon Guard has done a lot of good. And I do intend to expand it for a market interested in safety and security. I want to make a difference in the world. But only after _he_ is no longer in it.”

“Claire, I have to be honest…I’ve been down this road before. Vengeance only comes back to hurt you in the end.”

“It’s not vengeance. It’s justice.” Claire didn’t bat an eye. “This man held me down and he…” She ground her teeth together. “He took something from me that night. And he’s probably done it to hundreds of other women. He has destroyed lives. You know how that feels.”

The emotion in her tone sparked a plight of sympathy in Alison. Claire was right. She knew people like that. She knew how it felt to be destroyed by people like that. Ten minutes ago she was talking about murdering Alex Drake. She understood exactly what Claire was feeling. And Claire wasn’t just protecting herself. She was protecting her daughter. As a mother, Alison felt the same instinct. And if someone was after her family she’d do the same.

“Ali, I need to get out of here.” Mona felt like her throat was closing up. She was back in the pit, back in the underground bunker. The walls were closing in on her.

“Okay.” Alison nodded, addressing both Claire and Mona. “You do what you need to do, Claire.”

Claire gave her an appreciative look before Taylor led them out of the room. She opened another door with her fingerprint and they walked down a corridor. They turned down several hallways and then stopped when they got to a staircase much like the one they’d seen at the entrance. Taylor opened it for them.

“It leads to the sewers.”

“Uh…no. I’m not about to get eaten by Pennywise the damn clown. Take us back the way we came.” Mona argued.

“It’s too dangerous. He might see you if you go back into the woods.” Taylor explained. “It’s only a few hundred feet. Once you get to the entrance just climb out and you’ll be at the coffee house.”

“Is everything connected like this?” Alison asked.

“I designed it when we created Beacon Guard.” Taylor replied.

Alison nodded. She looked Taylor square in the eyes.

“If anything happens to Emily I’m holding you personally responsible.”

“Noted. And if anything happens to my mom I’m blaming you.”

“We have an understanding then,” Alison said.

“Seems that way.”

“Mona, come on.” Alison walked forward.

“I hate this town. I want to go back to France.” Mona grumbled.

They walked up the stairwell. The tunnel opened up into the sewers, just like Taylor had said. There were lights leading the way. At the very least, the tunnels were dry. It could have been much worse. Alison looked around.

“Great, we’re Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Alison frowned. Mona looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Lily has a thing for them. She calls Donatello _Donadello_ and Raphael _Wafflehead_.”

“ _Wafflehead_.” Mona snorted. “That’s amazing.”

“You think that’s funny? She calls Michelangelo _Mike Jello_.”

“What does she call Leonardo?”

“ _Lee’s nards_.”

The laughter took her mind off of the enclosed space. Mona felt herself relaxing.

“So…are we going to address the fact that there is a secret town underneath this town?” Mona shuddered.

“Let’s be honest. It’s not the weirdest thing we’ve ever dealt with,” Alison said. She looked at Mona. “How are you doing?”

“Better now that we’re out of there.” But she could still feel the goosebumps on her skin. “It just…brought everything back.”

The further they walked the brighter the tunnels got. They could see the sunlight.

“You know what baffles me is how people keep building entire suburbs underground without anyone knowing. It’s ridiculous.” Alison tried to take Mona’s mind off of her fear.

“I bet the zoning permits are a bitch to get.” Mona smiled weakly.

A few minutes later they were climbing out of the darkness and into the light. They were by the coffee shop, just like Taylor promised.

“Well, they may be conspiring to kill someone, but at least they’re honest.” Alison helped Mona out of the hole.

“Are we really going to sit back and do nothing?” Mona asked.

“Far be it from me to stop them. If Claire wants to take out the bastard who raped her and killed her son, I say _‘Faster pussycat. Kill. Kill’_. I’d do the same for my girls.”

“That’s sweet.” Mona teased her. “You should write that in their baby books. _‘Mommy would murder for you’_.”

“I think I’ll pencil it in under _‘baby’s first steps’_.”

They were just getting their bearings when the door to the coffee shop opened. They heard the little bell jingle and looked over towards the noise. Alison felt her heart drop. Of all the people who could have walked into their lives at that moment, it had to be Dana Booker.

“Well, that’s an odd route to take to get here. Tell me, do they have valet parking in the sewers?” Dana questioned, her arms folded across her chest. She had a smug look on her face. She knew she’d caught them in the act. “I think we should have a little chat. Whether we have it here or at the station is up to you.”

 _Son of a bitch._ Alison thought to herself.

They couldn’t catch a break. Alison looked over at Mona, who looked about one hundred percent done with Dana’s shit, too. Both of them took a moment to silently appreciate the fact that they didn’t have Nolan’s ring and locket anymore. They just had to hope that they could lie their way out of it, because if Claire and Taylor were implicated in any way they knew they would have hell to pay. And they did not want to be on the receiving end of the Hotchkiss family’s wrath.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Look at ALL THE SECRETS spilling out. Now we know what Taylor and Claire are planning. We know that Mona is a superhero who saved baby Grace. And we know that Alex is stuck somewhere overseas, never to see the corrupt government of the USA again. Emison is still cheeky and snarky. And our Perfectionists are having a hell of a time, aren’t they? I know I threw a lot at you this chapter. We are nearing the end. I’ll try to finish it before the year is over._

_Updates will likely continue to be sporadic. Full disclosure, I’ve had a pretty terrible few months. Short version: the house where I’m living is being sold and I’m about to end up out on my ass (or in my car). I have been struggling to find full time work (I have part time, but it’s not enough to live on) and was basically told by my long time employer that I’m not worth it to find it in the budget to bring me on full time. And the reason I’m telling you this is because I went ahead and created a Ko-fi account for anyone who enjoys my work to drop me some tips if they feel so inclined to help a sister out. My work will continue to remain free and public, but if you have a few dollars my poor ass would really appreciate the help. ko-fi(/)ellakay. I’ve already had two lovely readers buy me some virtual caffeine and I can’t tell you what it means to me._


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